


The Weight of Living

by Hecallsmehischild



Series: Just Legends [2]
Category: Ghost - Mystery Skulls (Music Video), Greek and Roman Mythology, Mystery Skulls (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-04-27 06:17:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 27
Words: 55,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5037103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hecallsmehischild/pseuds/Hecallsmehischild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything the Mystery Skulls thought they knew about Lewis has been shaken. With the Pepper family crumbling and Arthur's life in danger, the Skulls race to find the connection between Teles, Team Tome Tomb, and the Shiker before it's too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Heart is Breaking for my Sister

_"C'mon Lewis, please?" Aji begged, clasping her hands in front of her with all the innocent theatrics her seven years had endowed her with. "Just a few minutes. I'll go to sleep, promise."_

_Lewis crossed his arms in an effort to stand his ground. "You know house rules. Besides, I can't do that for you much longer anyway."_

_"So do it nowwwww. When I'm eight you can't anymore." She pushed her lower lip out, blinking large, sea-blue eyes sadly._

_Groaning, Lewis threw up his hands and left the room, returning momentarily with a oddly shaped black case. "You're lucky Mom's working late tonight. Kay's downstairs, so we have to be quiet, ok?"_

_Aji grinned, pulling the covers up to her chin as Lewis unlocked the case. He glanced over at her, frowning. "Hey, wait a minute, what's that?"_

_Aji gulped, pulling the sheets up higher. He'd seen. "Nothing."_

_Her tiny, clenched fists were no match for Lewis' massive hands, and he pried the sheets from her fists. "Scratches? Bruises? Aji, you got in another fight."_

_Aji crossed her arms, sullen. "Said stuff 'bout Mom an' Dad. An' me an' Kay."_

_"Like what?" Lewis took her arm, inspecting the scratches._

_"Called us zebras, asked why we don't have stripes since our parents're different, and then called us stupid 'cause we don't go to school."_

_Lewis' jaw worked, but the corners of his mouth turned up anyway. "Eh, they're idiots. They don't know what you learn at home. Besides, they wouldn't be calling you a zebra if they knew you'd be flying in a year."_

_Aji beamed at him. "You gonna come watch me?"_

_" 'Course I will. Think I'd miss your first flight? But listen, no more fights. Next time, just walk away and cool down before you come out swinging. Can you give that a shot for me?"_

_Nodding, Aji watched him pull the violin out of its case, setting the end under his chin and flourishing the bow. He set it against the strings ever so lightly, drawing them across the tiniest bit._

_The strings shivered, the faint squeak sending chills down her spine. He would make so little of it, say it was barely any kind of melody, that he could do much better if he could be louder. But he played it small for her, so she could hear music before it got too dangerous. Nobody else trusted her enough to let her hear music._

_"I'm gonna miss your music," she sighed, laying her head back on the pillow._

_He pulled the bow away from the violin, lifting her chin with the tip of it. "Hey. You've got a solid memory, yeah? No holes in your head. Remember the music when I don't get to play it for you anymore. You can play it yourself in your head."_

_"You gonna play music for the new baby too when she's born?" Aji mumbled, her eyelids drifting closed._

_"Of course I am. Everyone needs music sometime in their life. And you're gonna be a good big sister, aren't you?"_

_Aji grinned sleepily. "You bet. I'm gonna be best big sister, like you're best big brother."_

….

Kay pressed her hands flat against the tabletop to keep them from trembling. The metal was cold and smooth against her skin. Aji's chain clinked against it as she scratched under the metal bands on her wrists. The stench of steel permeated the air in the square little room, recycled several times through the same vents. Dad sat on her right, his head bowed over steepled fingers.

"Where's Mom?" Aji broke the silence, eyes trained on the empty space on the other side of Dad.

"Your mother couldn't make it." Dad didn't lift his head. "So Kay and I are here to discuss what happened and how we move forward. Obviously we'll need to get a lawyer, but before we even get to that part-"

"Forget it." Aji crossed her arms. "I don't need to talk. I don't want to talk. This is pointless, so you might as well leave."

Dad paused, then tried again. "I understand you disagree with the family decision about Arthur, but this isn't the way to handle it. Look where you are, look what you could have done. You don't want to go down this road, Aji."

Aji leaned forward. "First of all, like hell it was a family decision. Dulcie can barely wipe her own nose, and we all know you're on Mom's leash."

Kay's hand flew to Dad's arm as he stiffened. Aji continued. "So really, this was a Mom-and-Kay decision, and the rest of us got dragged along. Second, you don't know what I want if you think that's true. I want Kingsmen six feet under or scattered to the wind, and I will get it one way or another." She raised her voice. "Hear that, cops? I want Kingsmen _dead._ "

This wasn't happening. It couldn't be. Less than a month ago they'd lost Lewis, and now Aji was tearing the hole in their family wider. Every word her sister spoke unravelled the threads even more, and Kay couldn't stitch fast enough. "He wouldn't want this, Aji. You know what Lewis would say."

Aji's eyes narrowed. "Cool down before going in swinging? Great advice, sis, just one problem. Lewis isn't here. So we don't actually know if he would have said that or not."

"He never would have hurt Arthur!" Kay said. "He wouldn't hurt anybody! He wasn't some half-cocked vigilante."

Aji tilted her head back, eyes slitted. "I don't want to see you here again. If Dad has to visit, fine. If Mom has to visit, fine. But it's obvious where your loyalties are, and seeing you is making me sick." She pushed her chair back, standing. "Visiting time's over. I don't want a lawyer, so don't bother. Unless you're going to pull that legal guardian right crap, but I won't cooperate. There's only one way to get what I want, and it won't be through the law."

"Aji." Dad's voice was soft enough to put a pause in Aji's retreat. "Please don't do this. We can still work this out. We can take what's left and make something good out of it." He stood slowly, reaching a hand out to her. "You're not the only one who misses him."

For a moment, Aji stared at his hand. Her lips parted slightly, trembling. She swallowed, squaring her jaw and turning away. Dad's arm dropped back to his side, and he dropped back into his seat.

An officer met Aji at the door, escorting her from the room. A few moments later, another entered to lead them out. Kay held Dad's arm as he trudged next to her, his eyebrows drawn close together.

Dulcie ran up to meet them in the waiting room, her new hairclips reflecting rainbow dots all over the wall. She tugged on Dad's arm anxiously.

Dad shook his head. "No, Dulcie. I'm sorry. Aji's not coming today."

Dulcie turned a look of disbelief on Kay that sliced deep.

_There's nothing I can do. Don't look at me like that._

"We should go home and check on Mom." Kay cleared her throat, checking her phone. She'd put it on silent for the visit, but she hoped Mom had answered a text. Any of the ten texts. She hadn't come out of the master bedroom since the phone call from Juvenile Hall.

_Missed call. Mom?_

She checked the phone log. Vivi had left a message. Sighing, she put the phone to her ear.

"Kay. We need you. Right now. Squire's a wreck, and I'm about to rip someone a new tuna Triscuit. I'll text you the address of our hotel. Find a way here. I don't care how. We need to talk. It's. About. Your. Brother."

"Why now?" Kay groaned, flipping over to her texts. "Dad, I have to go. Vivi and Arthur need me, Vivi says it's an emergency."

"Where are they? How are you going to get to them?"

"I don't know. Walk maybe?" She checked the address on Maps. "Or not…"

Dad reached up to the collar of his shirt, fidgeting with the buttons as he contemplated the floor. Abruptly, he took Dulcie by the hand and headed for the exit. "Come, Kay. I'll drive you."

Kay blinked, hurrying after him. "Thanks, Dad. But you don't have to, I can get a bus over."

"No, I need to speak with them. Aji's right, a lawyer isn't going to be able to help us at this point. But they might."


	2. Locked Myself in a Hotel Room

            “Arthur, stop being ridiculous. Your analytical skills are required. The more heads we can put together on this, the better! Vivi, please stop staring out the window and help me get him out of the bathroom!”

            “Kay texted. She’s almost here.”

            “I didn’t ask Kay, I asked you.”

            “And I said Kay’s almost here.”

            The cracked tile shower wall chilled Arthur’s already clammy skin as he pressed against it, staring vacantly at the locked bathroom door. Any second, now, Lewis would come bursting through in all his flaming glory.

            _Oh gods. The flames._

            The second they’d stepped into the mansion there had been candles lit with tongues of pink flame, like the inferno that Vivi claimed almost killed him. Then those scary little ghosts he’d seen Duet summon chased them down the hall. Vivi had been thrilled, sure they were on the right trail.

            And then…

            _But he would never be angry at me! He had to know! Why? Lewis would never… unless it really was my…_

            He wrapped his arms around his head, hunching over his knees on the shower floor. The shower head leaked a steady drip-drip-drip at the tip of his sneakers. He watched the drops smash into the hard tile after falling from a dizzying height--

            He wrenched his eyes away, giving a gutteral cry. Lewis was dead, but he wasn’t gone, and he blamed Arthur.

            _How could you blame me? You know I always had your back!_

            Those flames. The pink fireball that nearly killed them-- _would_ have killed them if Vivi and Arthur hadn’t been carrying their talismans--was the same shade of pink that had engulfed him at Lewis’ grave.

            The Shiker hadn’t tried to kill him that night. Lewis had. His best friend had tried, twice now, to murder him.

            _But then, I actually did kill him._

“I d-d-d-didn’t want!” He choked, his throat closing up as demonic memories crowded his mind. “N-N-N!” He clung to the memory of Kay’s voice calling his name. He was Arthur, and nobody else.

            _Imagination, milked from the mind of a broken child, to give the curse adjustment._

            It wasn’t working.

            _Unicorn’s horn to give the curse longevity and the cruelest kind of hope._

He dragged his nails down his left arm to snap himself free, but was only rewarded with a screech of metal.

            _A corrupted hoshi no tama to incubate the curse from planting to harvest._

He slammed his head against the wall, pulling himself back to the present.

            “Arthur, please come out.” Mystery was scratching at the door. How long had he been doing that? “I know it’s distressing, but no good will come of you…” he trailed off as a knock sounded from beyond the bathroom door.

            “Why don’t you let her in, Mystery?” Vivi asked tonelessly.

            “She’s not alone,” Mystery hissed. “You get the door! I’m a dog, remember?”

            After a long pause and a few more knocks, footsteps crossed to the door. Arthur put his fingers in his ears, blocking out the sounds. If Kay was here, she’d probably tell him to open the door and he wasn’t ready to come out.

            Wasn’t ready to tell her about Lewis.

            _I don’t have to. Vivi will. Or Mystery._

            _They won’t be able to tell Kay why he’s angry._

            Arthur shut his eyes. It was remotely possible he was at fault, and if it was even remotely possible, then Lewis had every right to want him dead.

            _No! It’s not right! He denied me what he was perfectly happy to enjoy and wouldn’t tell me anything! He_ never _talked to me, never let Kay or I make a choice about it! Never told us what he was up against! It’s HIS fault!_

            A glint drew his eye to the crack under the bathroom door. Something colorful and flashy wiggled there. It almost looked like…

            One of the hairclips he’d sent over for Dulcie to lift her spirits.

            Hesitantly, he took his hands away from his ears. Vivi was whispering to someone, probably Kay. If Dulcie was here, Mr. Pepper probably was too. Maybe even Mrs. Pepper.

            The hairclip wiggled more insistently. Vivi probably didn’t want Dulcie in on the conversation. Arthur unfolded himself from the shower, crawling toward the door. He wasn’t ready to trust his legs yet. He clicked the lock open, cracking the door.

            He could just make out Mr. Pepper’s form sagging against the far wall, and now Kay’s whispering overlapped Vivi’s. A large tangle of pink curls blocked the rest of his view. He scooted back, allowing Dulcie to slip in with him.

            She shut the door behind her, shoving the hairclip back in her hair and turning to him. She touched his arm anxiously, peering up and down it. She put her hand over his heart, then pulled at his eyelids. Grimacing, he pulled back with a grunt.

            She lifted her hands, moving them with concentrated effort. **Aji hurt you?**

            Arthur gaped, lifting his hands in reply. **You sign? When did you learn? Who taught you?**

            **Slow. Please.**

            Arthur adjusted his speed, mouthing words along with his gestures. **You sign?**

**Done talking.**

            **Forever?**

            Dulcie nodded emphatically. **Found Lewis’ sign book. Videos.**

            Arthur blinked, bewildered. **Why done talking?**

            **Mom said no. But I sang. Then Lewis died.**

            Arthur shook his head vehemently. **You didn’t kill Lewis.**

            **Yes.**

            **No.**

            **Yes.**

            Arthur’s gestures swept wider, his mouth stretching to exaggerate the words. **Don’t you dare. This has nothing to do with you singing.**

            **Mom said songs kill.**

            Arthur grunted in frustration. **Yeah well Lewis doesn’t think it’s you. Neither do I.**

Dulcie’s eyes went round. **Lewis died.**

            He swallowed. “L-Lew--”

            _This one doesn’t break, he is not useful. Leave, then. Survive out there, if you can. I have my beauties to tend, but I’m always watching._

            Hands worked through his hair, jarring him back with a gasp. Dulcie was next to him, sliding something into his hair. When he reached up he could feel hairclips pinning two sections of his hair back.

            **Kay said talking hurts you,** Dulcie signed. **Don’t.** She patted the hairclips. **Feel better.**

            Arthur stared at Dulcie. She was sweet, but wouldn’t be able to tell him if it was his fault or not. Lewis, or whatever was left of Lewis, was driven by rage. Vivi was probably a wreck. If anybody could tell him if it really was his fault or not, it would be Kay.

            He turned to stare at the doorknob. If he went out there, he’d have to tell Kay who hurt him and why.

            _Lewis barely stopped when Vivi got in the way. What if I’m putting Kay in danger?_

            His spine stiffened. Lewis had kept all kinds of secrets, some of them probably for really well meant reasons. Now they were all dealing with the fallout. Kay deserved to know and decide for herself, then they would deal with the rest together.

            Struggling to stand on shaky legs, he tweaked one of Dulcie’s pigtails fondly, mouthing **Thank you.** Then he opened the bathroom door.

            Across the room, Kay swung around to face him. “Is it true?” she demanded. “Is Lewis a ghost?”

            Wincing, Arthur glanced down at Dulcie, frozen in place just behind him. He lifted his head, giving a small nod.

            “We have to find him.” Kay took a step toward the room door. “I have to talk to him.”

            Vivi grabbed Kay’s arm, snarling, “Not on your defenestrated wristwatch. Last time we were near him, he tried to fry Arthur medium-rare. _Again._ He’s a monster, and we can’t--”

            Kay ripped her arm away, rounding on Vivi. “Don’t you dare say that. Don’t you dare use that word in the same sentence as my brother! Just because you don’t remember doesn’t change who he is! Lewis is kind! He’s protective! He only ever wanted what was best for us, and if he attacked anybody, it’s because something’s wrong!”

            “Or maybe he’s not the hero you built him up to be, did you think of that?” Vivi snapped.

            “If you hadn’t lost your brain in the cave, you wouldn’t be talking like that about him!” Kay shouted.

            “And if you’d actually seen what he did to Squire in the graveyard _you would!_ Not only that, he’s working _with_ the Shiker!”

            “What? You’re lying! He would never!”

            “Oh yeah? So why are the Shiker’s little minions at his beck and call? They chased us all through his haunted house. So if you’re such an expert, you tell me!”

            **BANG.**

            Kay and Vivi jumped as Arthur slammed the flat of his mechanical hand against the wall, leaving a small dent. **Knock it off. Scaring Dulcie.**

            Kay blinked. “What’s he saying?”

            Vivi hunched her shoulders, turning back to the window. “We should stop. Dulcie.”

            Arthur put a hand on Dulcie’s shoulder, guiding her out into the room with him. Mr. Pepper took one of the two chairs, pulling Dulcie into his lap.

            Kay’s fingers curled and uncurled, and she couldn’t meet Arthur’s gaze. “Did. Did he really… do that? Try to… to hurt you?”

            Arthur nudged Vivi’s arm, pointing to his hands.

            Sighing, Vivi pushed her glasses up. “Fine. I’ll translate.” Her voice had gone flat again. Arthur hesitated, putting a hand on her shoulder. She batted it away, growling, “I’m not swung, Arthur. I’m angry, and that’s different. Start talking.”

            As Arthur’s hands moved, Vivi translated. “He says yes. Lewis would have killed him. But he’s not sure Lewis knows he was possessed. Arthur also says he wants you to tell him if it was his fault--Squire, we’ve already been through this!”

            Arthur held up a hand, shaking his head. He signed something to Vivi, and she sighed. “Fine. Keep going. He says they had a fight right before the cave.”

            “You already told us that,” Kay rubbed her arm. “You said you two had a fight, and that was how the demon got in.”

            “He says he didn’t tell you what it was about. He finally told Lewis that you two were dating.”

            Kay went rigid.

            “Lewis told him he couldn’t date you and wouldn’t say why. Told him to back off. Squire wants to know… oh.” Vivi’s voice picked up a tremor. “He wants to know from you if it was his fault.”

            “You know, it’s all well and good to ask Kay, but I’d appreciate it if everyone would stop treating me like I’m not a part of the conversation.”

            Arthur turned to Mr. Pepper, who was studying the carpet. “I know I’m just the human who’s married to the siren around here, but it’s not like I don’t have things to say. For one, it isn’t your fault. Teles said it wasn’t when you first gave us your letter, and she knows a lot more than she consciously lets on. I wouldn’t be shocked if she knew exactly whose fault it was and why, not that she’ll ever tell, but she said from the start that it wasn’t Arthur and I wouldn’t doubt it.”

            Arthur frowned, signing at him.

            “Consciously?” Vivi echoed.

            “All sorts of things slip in her sleep.” He lifted his head, pulling Dulcie close. “My family is falling apart, and from what I hear, it’s only going to get worse. If I tell you what I know, will you help?”

            Arthur glanced at Vivi, who sighed. “This thing with Lewis is a lot bigger than we thought. If it involves figuring out what else is happening with the Peppers, fine. We’ll officially add it to the list, along with team Tome Tomb.”

            Mr. Pepper nodded. “I’ll need a laptop.”

            “What for?” Vivi asked, flipping open her suitcase.

            “I’ve been ordered not to tell anyone what I’ve seen and heard. So I’ll just have to type it out and leave it here.” He glanced at Arthur, a wry quirk at the corner of his mouth. “And if anyone happens to come by and read it, that’s just too bad, now, isn’t it?”


	3. There's A Story at the Bottom of this Bottle...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNINGS: Burn description and disturbing concepts.

It had taken fifty six minutes for Vivi to make up her mind how she felt. Fifty six minutes from the time Squire had gunned the engine to get them as far away from that frog-forsaken mansion as humanly possible. Fifty six minutes to think about the look of shock on that bony face. The confusion and hesitation of the spirit, stopped mid-murder. The out of place tender expression. The beating heart hovering toward her outstretched fingers. The explosion of pink flame that nearly consumed them all, breaking itself against the protection field from her talisman.

The protection based on the object he'd left for her. Or, rather, would have given her, if he'd had the chance.

Lewis Pepper. The name left a sour taste in her mouth as her mouth finally set in a hard line. At the fifteen minute mark, when they were far enough away that they couldn't see the mansion anymore, Squire began to lose it. He was choking and sobbing and trying to speak, then freezing up and swerving all over the thankfully empty road.

She'd managed to talk him down enough to park the car and crawl into the backseat. Sending Mystery back to watch over him, she'd buckled herself in the driver's seat, adjusted the mirrors, and kept driving.

At the forty minute mark, after hearing Arthur alternate between whimpering and crying, ice began to settle in her chest. And at fifty six minutes, she was sure.

This wasn't a swing. Everything was crystal clear. She'd been wrong, so very wrong this whole time. Lewis Pepper wasn't anything like she'd heard. Everyone was wrong. She must have taken him in under the misguided notion that she could help him, because obviously he'd been sick. Pity at best, but never love. She could never, ever have loved someone… some _thing_ like that.

She'd checked them into the first hotel they could find. It was a run-down dive, but it didn't matter. Squire was practically choking in the back, and Vivi was running through the various methods of exorcism she would use should she come across Lewis Pepper again. There would be no meeting with team Tome Tomb for a while yet. Not until they sorted out this new development.

When Squire locked himself in the bathroom, Vivi lost it. Aji was small potatoes at this point, and Kay would agree as soon as she got here. Which she would, even if Vivi had to haul her here by the tail feathers. If Kay had those, of course.

Luckily a terse voicemail did the trick. She hadn't expected Mr. Pepper and Dulcie in tow, but at this point she didn't care. She could muster a flicker of concern for Squire, but he was behind a locked door and there wasn't anything she could do for him.

She should have expected Kay to take Lewis' side. Should have known nobody in the Pepper family would believe that their precious Lewis was at fault for something. For her the feeling of Squire's flaking skin, the smell of charred flesh, and the sound of his dying cries were fresh memories. None of them had seen it, save Mystery and Chloe, but Chloe was gone and Mystery wouldn't talk around the other Peppers.

_Stupid Kay._

What she couldn't have predicted was Mr. Pepper speaking up. While she couldn't imagine his "How I met your mother" letter helping anything, she couldn't afford to turn her nose up at any clues. Mr. Pepper gave Dulcie his iPhone and asked her to stay in the bathroom and play a game, promising that he would tell her the story when she was older, but that she wasn't old enough for some things yet. Reluctantly, she retreated to the bathroom and shut the door.

Mr. Pepper took Kay's hands in his and murmured, "I love your mother, Kay. But she has kept things from you too long. Please don't think poorly of her. You can't know…" He trailed off, then released her hands and turned to the laptop. Setting his fingers to the keys, he began to write, three sets of eyes reading over his shoulder.

…..

_I know some specifics that will be useful to you, but I write down everything I know in case it gives you further clues I haven't thought of._

_I was working the galley of a top of the line cargo ship at the time. I developed a reputation pretty quickly and had the pick of any liner I wanted to work. There wasn't ever a complaint about the food because I took it as a personal challenge to have something for everyone._

_We were passing through a cluster of the North Aegean islands and I was pulling together the evening meal. Most of the crew would be on land leave by nightfall and not as much food prep was required. With that in mind, I dismissed my team, cranked up my iPod, and got busy. I could easily handle dinner for a couple dozen by myself._

_A couple hours passed, but nobody came to the galley. I poked my head out to see where everyone was, but nobody was in the halls. I thought maybe we'd docked and I hadn't noticed. But that couldn't be. I was so used to constant motion that I always noticed the lack of it when we docked, and we weren't docked._

_I pulled my headphones out and wandered out into the hall when I saw Dave lying on the ground, just outside the galley. I dropped, shouting for the medic and checking Dave's breathing, but he was already dead. I ran for the medbay, but it wasn't just Dave. It was Kevin and Michael and crusty old John and even Captain Roberts. Everywhere I went there were bodies on the ground. Whit. Tom. Eugene. Then I realized Captain Roberts was down, but we were still moving. And about ten seconds after that, I was thrown down the hall as we ran aground._

_I picked myself up and ran to the deck. The freighter was hung up on rocks, and even from where I was I could see holes in the hull. She wasn't going anywhere, but the rocks looked to be holding her firm. All around me I could see other ships, some old wooden beasts so ragged they were practically ghost ships, a cruise liner, the odd yacht or two. What was odd to me was they were all pointed inward in the same direction, like they'd been meaning to come to this place._

_I thought to try the computers first. There was still power on the ship, and it's not like we were some 18th century frigate. Somebody had to be alerted to our crash. I was about to head to the bridge when I saw something moving on the side of the ship. It vanished into one of the holes in the hull, but it looked like a large animal._

_I decided the bridge was not an option anymore. If it was an animal, I wasn't interested in staying around. There were plenty of lifeboats more than equipped with supplies and equipment to contact anyone nearby. If anyone else had survived, the lifeboats would be the first place they'd go anyway. If no one was there, then it was just me._

_When I got to the lifeboats, no one was there. I kept telling myself that it was because they were all dead, that there was no other reason. It didn't work, and I found myself turning back. I had to check every room at least once to make sure. If there was even a possibility someone had been left alive I couldn't leave them._

_Bottom to top was best so I could be sure I hadn't missed anyone. I took the stairs down to the hold, which was still taking on water. I could see the rocks like teeth sunk through the hull. At least there wasn't a chance at the ship sinking any lower. I couldn't search the hold properly as it was filling fast, so I called out a couple of times and took my leave when nobody answered. On my way, I grabbed an emergency hatchet in case I found the animal._

_I searched the lower levels room by room, ready to run into each and lock the door. I both wished for and dreaded hearing any noise that wasn't my heartbeat and the rush of incoming water. Some rooms were empty and some were occupied, but every occupant I found was dead. None appeared injured, in fact each looked as if they'd just fallen asleep and died where they lay._

_I'd nearly worked my way back to the galley when I finally heard something. It was a loud clattering from metal pans and frantic chewing noises, but the grunts were human sounding, not animalistic. Holding the hatchet at the ready, I peered around the corner._

_The woman crouched on top of my counter was not one of our crew. Wrapped in threadbare rags, she was ripping into the meal I'd prepared for the others. She was dark and wild and had hardly any meat on her bones. I could see her ribs poking through the rags._

_If this was the animal I'd seen, she wasn't any threat to me, I reasoned. I set the axe down, but the sound must have startled her. She caught sight of me and froze._

_"Hey," I said. "I'm Timothy."_

_She began to shake, and I thought I must have scared her. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. Look, I'm just going to finish checking for survivors, we had a wreck. You probably saw us. Did you wreck off one of those other ships? We have lifeboats on this one."_

_"Kanéna," she whispered._

_"Is that your name?" I asked._

_"Kanéna!" she screamed at me. "Tréximo!"_

_I took a step back. She didn't speak English, that was clear, but I've never been able to pick up other languages. I put my hands out, speaking calmly so she'd get I wasn't a threat. She grabbed a roast between her teeth and burst past me, heading for the deck._

_She was the only living person I'd seen aboard the ship, even if she hadn't come from it, and I wasn't about to let her out of my sight. I chased after her, but she was fast. She reached the prow and swan-dived off it._

_Sick, I looked over the side, sure she was dead on the rocks. But no, she was swimming between them, headed for the island. She had the luck of the gods on her side to miss the rocks._

_I finished checking the ship. Nobody was left alive. I lowered the lifeboat, then slid down into it. Not once could I stop thinking about the starving woman._

_Leaving her would be criminal, so I routed the lifeboat away from the rocks and looked for a safe place to beach it. When I had, I went looking for her, armed with my hatchet in case she had unfriendly allies._

_I didn't find her until almost nightfall. She was passed out at the mouth of a cave. It reeked of something rotten and she smelled like vomit. She must have eaten too fast and her body couldn't take it. I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around her. Light as a feather she was. Her hands looked just fine now, but the skin on her arms twisted in on itself in ropey scars from her wrists to her shoulders and on to her shoulder blades._

_I took her back to the lifeboat. It was too dark to start out, so I wrapped her in one of the blankets and put the other on myself. I got some water down her throat along with half a ration bar. The few times she woke she was delirious and kept muttering things and humming. Her humming was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard, and I found myself staring at her for long stretches of time, hoping she would do it again. It was this way all night._

_By morning I hadn't slept at all, and escape was the furthest thing from my mind. All I wanted to do was stay and watch this woman I'd only just met as long as I lived. When she finally opened her eyes, she looked at me, and there was the coldest despair in her expression. I thought somehow I had failed her, and I opened my mouth to apologize when she cut me off._

_"Tréximo."_

_That word again. I didn't understand it, but I knew what I had to do. I got to my feet and leapt off the boat onto the island and began to run. I didn't know where I was running, but I knew I had to run. And somehow I knew it was because the wild woman wanted me to._


	4. ...And I'm The Pen

Letters spooled across the screen in neat, even rows that ran from the left edge to the right edge before falling off the end and beginning again at the left edge. They glutted the page in a steady flow, a reverse rain of letters filling it slowly from top to bottom, each word like shrapnel to the gut as Kay took in Dad's story.

How was she not supposed to think poorly of Mom? How could Dad-no, that wasn't fair. He was in sway. Of course he'd love her to the ends of the earth and back. It was all true and she was a fool to think otherwise. An idiot to think a siren could find anything like real love. All she'd ever have was someone enslaved to her, convinced he was in love with her to his dying day. She gripped her arms, shivering.

Just like Mom.

Arms wrapped around her middle, one warm and shaky and one cold and steady. Arthur pressed a small kiss to her ear from behind, and she dropped her hands to his arms.

No. She wasn't like Mom. And Arthur wasn't Dad. Arthur had been with her since before he was in sway. There had to be room for free will somewhere. Arthur didn't _have_ to be over here comforting her, he was the one who'd just been threatened by Lewis. But here he was, holding her steady, like he always did.

Mom was a murderer. There it was, laid out in black and white. She'd known the moment Dad started writing about crewmates dying without wounds and the dozens of shipwrecks. This was her legacy. Kay had come across myths a few times while searching through articles and websites, but on forums when she asked more questions about their legitimacy, everyone treated them like stories. Just legends, they said dismissively. Nothing more to them than bored humans making up stories and religions for themselves about why terrible things happened at sea. She got no conclusive answers from these people and eventually she stopped asking.

How many sessions had she spent by the sea, practicing restraint under Mom's careful instruction? Why would she keep this from her? She wasn't a child! She and Aji had the right to know! Was this why Aji was acting the way she was?

And Mom was still in her room. She hadn't left it since they relayed the call from Juvenile Hall about Aji's arrest. Did she even care their family was falling apart? And at the same time coming back together. Lewis…

If it was true, she had to find to him. Had to talk to him. Why would he say something like that to Arthur? Would he have said the same thing to her if he'd made it back that night? "Sorry, Kay, you can't date Arthur." Why?

_Because he knows a relationship with you is a murder case waiting to happen._

She shut her mind on that answer. She wasn't Mom. Lewis wouldn't think that of her. He trusted her, he even encouraged her about finding someone eventually. There had to be some other reason he didn't want them dating.

Why was she even thinking about that? Lewis was _here!_ She had to find him! Had to see his worried face again. Could ghosts still hug? She needed one. Had needed one from him for nearly two months now.

Gods, she missed him. But Dad was still writing.

…..

_The sun had just risen when I'd begun running, and by the time I dropped to the shore, twitching, it was sunset. My lungs throbbed and I couldn't feel my legs, but still I wanted to run. I was failing the wild woman somehow by not running. But there was nowhere to run to. The island was small and I had already covered it several times. I'd even passed the lifeboat several times, but she never turned toward me, so I kept going._

_I could go no further and I lay there, miserable over my failure._

_Night came, but I couldn't sleep. I was counting the seconds until I regained feeling in my legs. I'd decided I would make up for all the time I wasted by running extra hard._

_Something knelt by me, and that wonderful voice said, "Páfsi." And I did not need to run anymore. She turned me over and dragged me back to the lifeboat, putting the blanket on me this time. I was shocked at her strength. Starveling that she was, she could still lift me. She must have been fearsome at her peak, I thought._

_In the blink of an eye, it was morning again, and there was a ration bar and some tins of food at my feet. Several open tins lay scattered around her, licked clean, though I saw no sign of a can opener. They looked to have been torn open and for the first time I began to wonder exactly what I had found._

_Noticing I was awake, she lifted a hand in greeting, though she didn't smile. "Teles," she said, pointing to herself._

_"Timothy." I mirrored her gesture. A gull wheeled overhead, mocking loudly. I wondered how I was to communicate with her._

" _Tha prépei na prochorísoume," she said._

_Suddenly I remembered we were stranded, both survivors of terrible shipwrecks. I wasn't sure how or why this had slipped my mind, but I knew it was vital that we leave this place and report the wrecks as soon as possible. Communication could come later._

_It didn't take more than a couple of days before we found help. Authorities took us to mainland Greece and provided a translator so I could explain what happened and give rough directions to the little island full of shipwrecks. Teles spoke as little as possible, answering their questions in one word responses. As they understood each other, I assumed she was speaking Greek._

_I took advantage of the presence of an interpreter to ask her what happened to her, and where she planned on going after this._

_She only answered my second question. "With you, of course."_

_For some reason this answer filled me with joy. At the same time I was puzzled. Her voice was hollow and she never looked me in the eyes._

_Bringing her stateside was no easy thing, but I had garnered a few fairly influential fans of my cooking in the few years I'd been at sea, and within a couple of weeks she had a visa._

_Unlike me, new language came easily to her and she was fluent by the time she set foot on US soil. By that time, I had connected the dots. She didn't deny it when I confronted her. She was like marble, watching me to see what I would do with this information._

_I asked how long she had been on the island, and she said centuries. I asked what happened to her arms, and she said someone had stolen her wings. I asked how she had lived on an island like that. I had run every inch of it and there wasn't a single edible plant I could see, and little to no wildlife. By calling ships, she said. Ships with supplies for the people inside, people who arrived to the island dead. She asked how I survived, and I showed her my iPod and earphones._

_Then, for some silly reason, I asked why she had made me run all day then let me stop._

_"I wanted you to escape fate," she answered. "But you can't. Nobody can. I had to accept that, and it took me time."_

_I asked her what she meant, but she shook her head and did not answer._

_I didn't know what to do with the fact that she'd killed hundreds of people-humans-for a very long time, but I couldn't just abandon her. I took her back to my flat until I could figure out what to do. I was exhausted and confused and needed to sleep. I pointed her in the direction of my bed and curled up on the couch with a blanket, dropping off right away._

_I woke to her crying out, her speech slipping between English and Greek. I ran over, but she was asleep, and she wasn't giving me a command. She was just repeating something. I shook her to wake her, which was a mistake. Her claws came out and she attacked me. I think she was half awake, she kept shouting about her wings. I could see one or two pinions on her arms, but no wings._

_She chased me around my flat for a few minutes before she finally realized I wasn't attacking her, then retreated to the bed and folded herself up into a little ball and cried. I didn't know what to do but I came a little closer, still keeping my distance, and asked if she was alright. She begged forgiveness, said that she wasn't trying to hurt me, that she hadn't ever wanted to kill anyone. She told me a demon had plucked her wings and her sisters' wings, and that it was a punishment for some great failure of hers. Without wings she couldn't leave the island, and turned to calling ships for their supplies._

_"Where are your sisters?" I asked._

_She didn't answer for a long time, but finally said, "They threw themselves in the sea to die."_

_That night she told me to tie her hands before either of us slept, so that she couldn't hurt me if she attacked again._

_I knew I wasn't going anywhere for awhile, but I needed to work. Cooking was my art, and since Greece I'd been too distracted to do much more than slap sandwiches together. Within the week I'd found a small restaurant that was struggling to make ends meet. I had a nice sum in my account from my time at sea and made an offer. I brought Teles in and started teaching her how to cook. She would yell if I threw anything away for awhile, and it ended up teaching me more conservation in my craft. She was a fast learner, and between the two of us we opened the Pepper Paradiso._

_I watched her cooking and serving people, always approaching them like they were going to stand and strike her dead. Her hands shook often back then, and sometimes she would dissolve back at the flat, saying she couldn't keep going, they could surely see her sins._

_What could I tell her? She had killed and she had survived. How could I know what I would have done in the same shoes when I'd never starved in my life? I suggested she find some good thing to do. I felt stupid for not being able to say anything more comforting, but she seized on the idea._

_The next day, any leftovers or send-backs were boxed and put in the fridge. At the end of her shift, she left with the food and returned to the flat empty-handed, saying she had found something to do._

_This seemed to calm her, and I was happy that she was adjusting._

_For several months she slept on the bed while I was on the couch. Most nights she woke with night-terrors, and I learned how to coax her free of them without getting too close. She would always say something, and over time I pieced together something about a curse. I would have dismissed it if it had been anyone else, but I still found myself obeying her every command with great determination. She was a siren, who was I to dismiss the idea of a curse? Patched together, it was, "For failure, see your feathers stripped. Let all your children's fates be tipped; the early death of eldest son, the firstborn's mind to come undone, the second one to kill and rage, the third to live within my cage."_

Dad's phone rang loud and insistent from his pocket, but he ignored it, continuing to type.

_One night, instead of her usual cries, she was singing in her sleep. I could feel everything starting to shut down, but I staggered over and grabbed her arm before I lost consciousness._

_When I woke, she was holding me, still singing. The song was different, though. Warm and loving and full of life. And for a minute, everything was good and beautiful in the world, and I kissed her, and I said, "Marry me."_

_Anyone else would have slapped me for saying that out of the blue, and I felt like an idiot. But she just closed her mouth and nodded her head. That night, we added binding her mouth shut to our pre-sleep preparations._

_For a while we were happy. Or at least, I was happy. She always seemed to have some melancholy hanging over her. We both took precautions against having children, though neither of us would say why. And yet one day she came to me and said she was pregnant._

_Whether there was a curse or not, I wasn't willing to end what had already begun, and Cayenne was born. With her birth I relaxed. Whatever Teles had said in her sleep, our eldest wasn't a son. And a few years after Kay came Aji, and we moved from my flat to a small house as a growing family._

_Then Lewis came to our doorstep. He was very beat up and had scars and burn marks. He wouldn't say anything about where he came from, just that he was afraid of being found. Teles made the decision to take him in. I went along with her, but I began to wonder some about the curse I'd heard. Lewis was older, and if we took him in, would he become our son?_

Dad's phone kept ringing. It hadn't stopped for ten minutes.

_Lewis dyed his hair purple, hoping that would throw whoever was watching him, and agreed to keep our secret. Truth be told, I was worried about the curse for a while after Dulcie was born, but nothing happened. Our family just grew closer together. It was hard trying to help Kay and Aji navigate a world built for humans, but we managed. After many years I stopped thinking about the curse at all._

_The night Lewis died, Teles repeated a line from it. "The early death of eldest son." It was all she could say that night. And now Aji has begun to follow suit with the line attributed to the second born._

_Arthur has asked if Lewis' death was his fault. It could never have been his fault. If anything, the silence Teles and I have kept implicates us more than him. If this curse is real, then we are to lose each of our daughters in some way. Lewis' death was only the beginning. Please-_

Exasperated, he snatched his phone from his pocket, lifting it to his ear. "Yes?"

His expression froze, his eyes glazing over. Kay's shoulders tensed as his silence continued. He swallowed once, twice, then lowered the phone back to his pocket. "Dulcie, we need to go. Kay, I'm sorry. We need to go back."

Kay frowned. "Who was that? Mom?"

"Yes. Your mother. She needs us now." He rose from his seat, circling around to the bathroom. "Dulcie, come one. We're leaving."

Kay felt Arthur's arms tighten around her. "You're leaving, Dad. I'm staying for now."

Dad paused, not looking at her. "Unless that's a direct contradiction, I've been told you need to come with me."

Kay simmered at the sight of her father's trembling fingers, his suddenly stooped posture. Mom knew. Mom _knew_ what command did and was still using it on him? She could, at least, release him from one part.

"Go without me, Dad. I'll talk to Mom later."

Without another word, he took Dulcie's hand and exited the room.

Silence filled the room, punctuated only by the occasional click from Arthur's prosthetic.

Kay was the first to break it. "I don't know what to do with this. I… what does this mean for me? I'm going to lose my mind? And what, Aji's fated to kill Arthur?" Her voice rose. "Says who? Who handed this to my Mom in the first place? That's who really killed Lewis!"

"Squire, tell me you've got something." Vivi stared at the laptop screen, unmoving. "Cause if Kay doesn't lose it, I just might."

"Nobody's going to lose anything right now." Mystery hopped up on the bed. "I understand this is quite a bit to take in, but every piece we get is helpful."

"Yeah, sure. It's helpful how? Do you know what's important to me right now?" Vivi walked toward the door. "Finding Chloe. Finding her and getting her away from Duet. Not because Duet somehow knew Lewis, not because it has anything to do with the Pepper family, but because Chloe's in pain and probably in danger. I couldn't care less about Lewis anymore. And none of this information helps me with Chloe." She opened the door. "I'm getting some air. See you two later."

Mystery sighed, leaping off the bed and scampering after Vivi.

Arthur let go of Kay, tugging her over to the computer. He typed at the bottom of the document, _Let's get some air too. How about ice cream?_

Kay rubbed her arm. "Is now really the time to be going on a date?"

Arthur smiled weakly. _I almost died. You're upset about all this stuff. This is a lot of info. We could both use a break. What do you say?_

She looked down at her hands. "Arthur… I really need to find Lewis."

His prosthetic was clicking against the table, and she shut her eyes. He was right. A break would be good. She would find Lewis later. There had to be some mistake, but maybe Lewis wouldn't be able to see that with Arthur there. She crossed over and tugged on Arthur's arm. "You're right. Let's get some ice cream. Think about something else for a while. There was a Dairy Queen a few blocks up from here. Let's head out."


	5. My True Colors

"Why are you doing that?" Vivi hissed over her shoulder. "You're not exactly subtle as a human."

"Perhaps not, but speech is an advantage at the moment and a talking dog is even less subtle." Mystery kept his hands in his pockets, his longer legs matching Vivi's furious pace with ease.

"I don't need a babysitter," she spat. "I'm not crazy right now, just angry."

"Vivi, of all people, you don't need to convince me of your sanity. I know you're perfectly sane even when you're in a swing, and I'm fully aware you're angry. I'm not here to babysit you. I'm here because you need a friend."

Vivi's steps slowed. "Well. Yeah. I do. I guess."

Mystery pulled up alongside her, slipping an arm through hers. "Then allow me to escort you to the nearest pizza shop. I believe it's been awhile since you've eaten. You can vent all you want in between slices, but I insist you have at least three."

Surprised, Vivi allowed herself to be pulled down the road to the local pizzeria. Mystery sat her down and went up to the counter, flashing the Mystery Skulls' credit card, and returning with a large meatlover's pizza.

She hadn't eaten since dinner the previous night and her mouth watered over the aroma of sausage-pepperoni-bacon-beef-meatball goodness. She winked at Mystery. "Itidakimasu!" And just like that, the smile cracked off her face. She dropped her face into her hands.

Mystery scooted his chair next to hers, squeezing her shoulder. "Chloe will be alright. She's managed this long with Duet. Whatever magical properties she has are probably focused inward on herself now that she isn't healing you or Arthur."

"She was hurting so bad, Mystery. And all I could do was babble on about the plan I had to distract Duet." She shoved her glasses up, wiping her eyes. "I couldn't even comfort her because I couldn't shut up. And I was going to make it right. I was going to find her today and get her away from Duet where she could recover and be safe. Then Lewis. Stupid Lewis!"

Mystery held up a napkin, which she took, blowing her nose.

"I'm shocked as well," he admitted. "I'd never seen this side of him. I saw flashes of something hidden in his time with you, but never like this."

Vivi grabbed a slice of pizza, shoving it in her mouth. She didn't want to cry again. Mystery's words were a sore reminder that she _had_ invited that monster in, had let him live with her. Maybe he didn't show it so much with Mystery around, but he had to have been just as cruel then. It had to be like that, there couldn't be a switch that big. You couldn't just rewrite who you were after death. If anything, death brought out most spirits' true colors.

It took her five slices to slow down and take a few breaths. The rest of the pizza had already vanished and Mystery was wiping his mouth with another napkin. "Better?"

"A little." She sniffed.

"A walk, then?" He offered his arm again.

A lopsided smile made its way across her face as she accepted it, teasing, "I bet you like this kind of a walk better."

He rolled his eyes. "While it's not very dignified to be on a leash, I understand the necessity of making other humans comfortable in my presence." His eyes slid around to Vivi as they exited the shop and continued down the sidewalk. "So. About today."

Vivi's gait turned jerky again as she simmered.

"Any thoughts about it?"

"Plenty. None of them anything you want to hear. Suffice it to say, if I ever see that over-mixed shark muffin again, I'm landing him a one way trip to the underworld."

Mystery blinked, taking a moment to decipher her sentence. "I'm sure you don't mean that."

She jerked her arm out of his. "Of course I mean it. What, do you think I enjoy watching Squire gasp on the edge of death? Whatever he was, Lewis is the enemy now. Him, and everything about him." She jammed her hand into her purse, withdrawing the small gray box. "I'll have nothing to do with him ever again!" She hauled her arm back and let it fly. The box sailed in a lengthy arc down the street.

"Vivi!" Mystery scolded. "You don't have another talisman right now. You need every bit of protection in case the Shiker does show up!"

"I don't care. I'll find something else. Anything else." She frowned, tilting her head. "Did you hear it hit the ground?"

Mystery paused. "I wasn't listening."

"I was. It was heavy enough. It should have made a sound."

Mystery lifted his head, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air. His eyes widened.

"Let me guess." Vivi growled, her eyes little slits.

"And his scent is fading. He's leaving."

"Fantastic. And Squire's his first target. I swear when I get my hands on that skull I'm going to punt it so far he'll… never…" Vivi blinked. "His targets. Squire. Shiker. Kay."

"What?"

"I had two dreams, remember? One of them told me which Shiker we were looking for. The other one told me Squire was in trouble. In both of them there was a list of names. On one side was most of the Pepper family and me, and on the other was the Shiker, Arthur, and Kay. And that side was burning."

Mystery's jaw dropped. "Vivi, you can't be implying what I think you're implying."

"That he blames Kay as much as Arthur, so she's no protection against Lewis? Absolutely." She wheeled around, making a beeline for the hotel. Her phone began to ring and she pulled it out.

"Arthur. Frisking bagel crumpets! Squire!" she shouted into the phone. "I think Lewis was just here! Don't move, I'm on my way!"

…...

It was difficult to keep his prosthetic from clicking when the rest of his body was still a jittery mess. It wasn't as though he could tell his nerves to shut down and he wasn't completely sure they should. There had been two attempts on his life that day alone, and according to Mr. Pepper, he might well have a permanent bullseye painted on his back for Aji to home in on.

How much of it was her own rage and how much of it was a curse? Arthur knew little about curses or the laws they lived by. The Skulls had never had to deal with them. For all he knew, Aji was as driven by the curse as he'd been by the demon. Or perhaps she was more than happy to fulfill her part.

And Lewis was no longer under a curse; he'd already died. But he wanted Arthur dead for sure. Arthur's fingers slipped past the panel in his prosthetic, brushing the golden feather hidden there. He had some protection, but how much?

This wasn't right. None of it. This didn't fit the Lewis he knew. Something had to be wrong. Was Lewis under control of the Shiker? That would make sense. He had those little pink ghosts like Duet did, the ones the Shiker had drained to the edge. Any vision he'd had of Lewis as a child had been riddled with demonic encounters. He must have been prisoner of some sort to the creature. But for what purpose?

"Arthur?"

His eyes snapped over to Kay. She was hugging her arms again, watching him with that sort of unsure, cagy look she got when she was nervous about asking him something.

"Do… do you want me to tell you to talk?"

_Ah, Kay. So careful._

He reached out to take her hand, shaking his head gently. He wasn't up for fighting through the residual memories today. He squeezed her hand, grateful for her thoughtfulness in asking.

She pulled closer to him, winding her fingers through his and keeping pace.

They arrived at the Dairy Queen in silence. Arthur pulled the door open, and strains of the local oldies station wafted through. He immediately shut it, glancing over at Kay. She sighed, her shoulders stooped. "It's all right. We don't have to."

Arthur frowned. He pulled her around the corner of the building, holding up his hands and mouthing **Wait here**. Darting around the corner, he slipped inside the building. Kay was getting a Blizzard, and so was he. They both needed something to lift their spirits.

As he stood in line, his thoughts wandered back to the issues at hand. Lewis had been under a curse, the one handed to Mrs. Pepper for some great failure. She had mentioned a curse and a god, likely a goddess. She'd made a plea to him just before the graveyard incident. If anything happened to Kay, he was to turn Mrs. Pepper over to the authorities. Now he knew what was supposed to happen to Kay, so it was his responsibility to find a way to stop it. He had to find a way. If Lewis was here, he'd break every law, natural and unnatural, to find a way.

But Lewis _was_ here. His eyes widened. That's it. He had to get through to Lewis for his sisters' sake. He'd listen for that reason, if no other. He had to!

That meant facing Lewis again. He quailed at the thought. What if he couldn't break through? Would Lewis find a way to kill him? And if he didn't, would Aji?

He had to consider the possibility that he wouldn't survive the week. Ghosts stayed around for unfinished business. Arthur swallowed, fiddling with his sideburns. _The Pepper family is my unfinished business,_ he vowed silently. _I'm not going anywhere until they're safe, no matter what happens._ He hoped it would be enough. And how did Chloe fit into all this?

"Sir? Your order?"

Arthur snapped free of his reverie, fumbling with his wallet. He pulled out his phone, typing **Two #5 please. Medium.**

"Coming up." The lady swiped his card and left the counter, grabbing paper cups and compiling the ingredients.

If he _did_ get through to Lewis, he'd have to get more information about where he'd come from and why. He'd already taken those secrets to the grave, maybe he'd be more willing to spill them now. That way, if they encountered this Shiker again, they'd be prepared.

Unless, of course, Lewis really was working with the Shiker. Or under his control. He ground his teeth. _Not enough information to know!_

"Here you are, sir!" The lady handed over two chocolate Oreo Blizzards. "Have a great day."

He nodded, taking the cups and exiting the building. Rounding the corner, he found Kay leaning against the side of the building and handed her one.

She smiled tiredly, accepting. "Thanks, Arthur."

He leaned against the wall with her, putting a spoonful in his mouth. It was rich and chocolatey, and the Oreo bits gave a satisfying crunch. He glanced at Kay, poking at the Oreo crumbles at the top with her spoon. He reached over, tapping her forehead with the top end of his spoon.

"Hm?" She glanced at him. He tapped her forehead again. "What's on my mind?" she guessed, and he nodded. "Lewis," she admitted, dropping her eyes back to the treat.

Arthur tapped her arm to get her attention, then pointed to himself and lifted two fingers. **Me too.**

"Maybe I can talk to him. Make him understand what happened. It's Lewis. If he tried to hurt you, something's not right."

 _Didn't 'try'. Did hurt me._ But he nodded in agreement with her conclusion.

"Arthur?"

 _Uh oh._ Her voice was shaky.

"I miss him." Her head drooped, her hair falling forward to hide her face. "He always knew what to do and what to say, and I'm so confused. I don't know what to do with what Dad told us. Lewis would know." She gave a half-hearted laugh. "Do you know when he first came, I wanted him to leave? I wanted to wake up and he'd be gone like he never existed. Now he never existed to Vivi, and she hates him because she has no idea how wonderful he was, and I want him back more than anything. And he's back, but it's all wrong."

Arthur set the Blizzard down and pulled Kay into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist, hiding her face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for all this. I didn't know."

Squeezing her, he smoothed her hair back, staring down at her sadly. _Please stop apologizing, Kay. This was handed to you. It's not your fault._ His mouth quirked. He'd consider wading through more Shiker visions if he could open his mouth and reassure her.

She touched the wall behind him, frowning. "It changed color."

He blinked. _Changed color? What-oh hell._

They were no longer outside. The room around them had torn purple wallpaper and elegant wood moulding halfway up the wall. A worn pink carpet runner stretched down the hall they stood in. Suits of armor lined the hall, placed every few yards and staggered on opposing sides of it.

He reached into his pocket, yanking out his phone and jamming the emergency dial to Vivi.

"Arthur, what is this?" Kay clutched his prosthetic.

 _Not the alley behind Dairy Queen._ He swallowed, glancing at the suits of armor. He and Kay were somewhere halfway down the hall, smack in the middle of all the suits. He had no way of knowing which would spring to life, wielding its sword, and no time to warn Kay of every trap they'd triggered this morning.

_Was it just this morning?_

"Do you hear that?" Kay lifted her head, peering down the hall. "It sounds like…" her breath caught. "Someone's playing music."

Arthur's stomach bottomed out. _No. He wouldn't. He couldn't be that cruel._ He cupped his hands over Kay's ears, frantically searching for a clue as to which direction led to the front door.

"Squire?" his phone squawked from his pocket. "I think Lewis was just here! Don't move, I'm on my way!"

 _Great advice, Vee. Don't move. Little late for that. Looks like he can make it appear wherever he wants._ He craned his neck as the music stopped, pulling his hands away from Kay's ears. He couldn't tell which direction it had been coming from, but any direction had to be better than staying put. He tapped Kay on the shoulder and pointed to the suits of armor, drawing a pretend sword from his side and swinging it hard.

Kay stared at him. "They move? They attack you? Is this…" she turned to one of the suits. "Is this a haunted house?" Her eyes widened. "Is it _his_?"

Arthur nodded hard.

Kay turned, pelting down the hall. "Lewis!" she shrieked. "Lewis!"

 _No!_ Arthur dashed after her, watching every suit they passed for the telltale glowing eye. None lit, and even the portraits they passed seemed relatively lifeless, though he could swear their eyes followed him.

Up ahead, a door to the right swung open, spilling an eerie pink glow into the hall. Kay took a sharp right, diving into the room. Arthur's sprint wobbled as his knees began to shake, but he followed Kay through the door, which slammed shut behind him.

It was a grand library room, or it might have been in its peak. A vast collection of cobwebbed books filled the back wall from floor to ceiling, wrapping around to engulf most of the right and left walls as well. An array of instruments sat in the far left corner; a grand piano, a cello, a flute, and a violin.

Hovering in the center of the room, arms crossed and skull aflame, was Lewis, staring down at Kay with an icy glare.


	6. Devil's Dance Floor

Something lodged in Kay's throat, and it wasn't a song. She took a step toward the ghost, inhaling every detail.

He was dressed to the nines in a pressed black suit, darker than his normalwear, but perfectly in line with his penchant for formal attire. Sharp, menacing ribs hugged the outside of the suit, painting accusatory lines toward where the coroner had said he'd been impaled. A crisp white shirt with a high collar showed under the suit, his usual ascot hung tie-style, knotted at a neck that wasn't there. Just above the suit floated a jawless human skull with burning pink eyes and flames styled back in the usual pompadour. A cracked blue heart pulsed dimly where a breast pocket would have been.

Her eyes dropped down to his feet and she gave a choked giggle. "Baby feet. Still. Y'know, you could have done something about that. Maybe. I don't know how it works." Her vision blurred. "They had a tag on them. A blank tag hanging from your toe and purple hair sticking out from the other end."

Silence.

Her heart beat low and heavy. "I tried to forget how much I missed you. It didn't really work." She stumbled forward a step, her hands instinctively clasping her arms. "Everything just reminded me of you. Dulcie wore your clothes every day for weeks." Another step. "Aji's been raging every day. The customers keep bringing you up. I couldn't get away from you, even at the sycamore. I kept thinking, maybe you'd…" She stopped, eye-level with those tiny boots, shined to a gleaming polish. "I wanted you to leave and never come back when you were first here. I thought they might keep you, and you weren't the oldest, it was me. I was the oldest, and nobody else could be the oldest. But then I was so glad when you stayed because I could tell you everything. You always understood me."

Silence.

She raised her eyes to meet his. The pink stare drilled through her and all his outlines went swimming and spinning. "When they said you were back, I believed them. But you can't really be sure until…" there were too many tears in the way of her words. She let out a sob and lunged forward, flinging her arms wide to hug his ankles.

She passed through, tilting off-balance to crash knees-first to the hardwood floor. She stared at the floor, blank, until her mind caught up. Of course. He was a ghost. She couldn't hold him. Laughing, she stood, wiping her eyes. "That was silly. I should know better. But I'm not as experienced as the Skulls, I'm sorry." She hesitated. He hadn't turned around, the back of his suit seeming to reprimand her lapse. "I'll get the hang of it. I'm just so glad." She circled her arms around his feet, but not too far. Just enough to give the illusion of an embrace. She shut her eyes, feeling the ache in her chest ease a little.

"Dulcie will be so happy," she whispered. "Maybe you can get her to talk again. And calm Aji down, and remind Vivi how wonderful you are, and everything can go back to normal."

His boots withdrew abruptly, pulling several feet higher, and her heart seized at what she'd said. "I, I didn't mean normal. I'm sorry. I know it can't be completely." She trailed off. He hadn't said one word to her. Why hadn't he said anything? "Lewis?"

He had turned away from her, crossing the room to Arthur. Arthur, who was barely standing as Lewis approached, crossed his prosthetic over the front of his body like a shield.

"Don't hurt him, Lewis!" Kay staggered forward. "It's not what you think! Dad told us things-"

"Not a single burn." Lewis grabbed Arthur's shoulder, spinning him around and inspecting the back of him. "Not one hair singed. Not even the smell of smoke. Tell me, Arthur. Picked up a protection spell since the graveyard? Figures you'd still be hiding behind Vivi. She always was the real talent. What's your secret to full recovery? Was that her too?"

The heaviness recollected itself in her chest. He was touching Arthur, prodding and shoving him around. He was _able_ to touch. Why did she pass through?

Arthur pressed himself against the wall, lifting his hands and making motions. Lewis immediately turned away, his smooth hair prickling into little flamelets. "Don't bother. I'm not interested." He walked toward Kay, staring just over her head as he approached.

"Lewis-!" He passed through her without so much as a flinch, and she dropped to her knees, hugging her arms. Why? Could he not see her? No, he had been looking at her earlier. Why, then? She turned on her knees as he strode through the air toward the back of the room. "Lewis?"

He stopped in front of the grand piano, running a hand along the top of it. "I hoped to learn this someday. I didn't start early enough to be a master, but I probably could have played a decent melody within a few years. Funny, isn't it, the things you think you'll have time for. Things, say for example, like a musical career. Or a life spent with the one you love." Lewis' skull swiveled around completely, still staring past Kay to Arthur. "Funny how things like that can just vanish, isn't it?"

Arthur stopped shaking. His jaw was working and his brows had pulled together, and Kay felt sick. Something didn't fit and she couldn't put it together like it was supposed to go.

"Kay."

Her heart leaped. He'd said her name. He'd spoken to her. "Lewis?"

"I hadn't finished the composition for your birthday piece. I was going to finish it later that evening and show you the sheet music." He reached for the violin, pulling it from its stand. "I've finished it now."

White flashed at the edges of her vision as terror struck hard and deep, twisting in her chest until she could hardly breathe. "No."

He set the violin against his chin, flourishing the bow. "It's a good thing Arthur is here. I wouldn't want him to miss your special present."

….

Arthur's mouth hung open as Lewis set the bow against the strings. **You can't be serious,** he signed. **Don't do this. Don't hurt her like this.**

"You can't hurt someone who never really cared." Lewis drew the bow down slow, releasing a deep, sonorous note. Kay gave a low cry, doubling over. Tips of gold poked through her skin, and Arthur's mind began to churn.

_What is the setup? Lew can't hurt me, so he's going to use Kay as the murder weapon. Kay is fated to lose her mind. If Kay kills me, that could well be the tipping point, and if my little backup plan fails, Vivi's on her own, but she doesn't even care anymore._

_What are the rules? Lewis can't burn me. Kay can control or murder me at this point. Music is a compulsion. Resistance level unknown, but Lewis won't stop. At some point she has to crack. End result is death._

_Not strong enough to stop Lewis. Vivi or Mystery might. Have to stall for time. Try breaking through._

**Lewis listen to me!** His fingers worked frantically. **Your Dad told us things. Your sisters are in danger. All of them. There's a curse he never told-** His hands dropped. Lewis had turned his skull away from Arthur, focusing on Kay as he began the concerto in earnest, a little pink ghost swooping in to snatch up the flute.

His face burned. _No time for anger. Kay._ Blood dripped to the floor as her talons dug through skin. He couldn't see past the golden plumes that grew longer by the second, straining against her shirtsleeves at the shoulders and crowding along her arms. Cords stood out in her neck as she clenched her teeth, tears streaming down her face.

_Can the compulsion be redirected?_

It's all he had. He sprang forward, diving to his knees in front of Kay. He took her face in her hands, drawing her focus to himself, then moved his hands down to hers. Standing, he pulled hard, drawing her to unsteady feet. He took one step back, then gave a low bow, sweeping one arm out to the side and then extending it to her.

She shook her head, drawing her hands up to her mouth and biting a knuckle hard. The cello joined the swelling orchestra as a second pink ghost appeared and Kay's knees buckled. Arthur caught her arms, his own hands vanishing into the golden plumage. He held her steady, nodding his head hard.

 _Come on, Kay. You can do this. One, two. One, two._ He stepped forward, out of sync with the music, and she stepped back. He stepped forward again, and she retreated. Then he moved back one-two, his feet finding the rhythm, and she followed. _One, two, three-side-side._ The tempo increased, and Arthur set his jaw. His right hand settled on her waist, his left clasping her hand. _No need to worry about the talons with a metal hand._ He pressed his right hand firmly. _Come on, Kay. The learning curve is sharp, but you can do this. Follow my lead._

Gasping for air, she moved with his hand. He led her across the room at a fast clip, his feet keeping time with the sweeping song filling the room. Leading her around, he released her waist, twirling her by the hand and catching her again, continuing on.

"Even now," Lewis rumbled, the temperature in the room rising. "Even _now_ you're _mocking me!_ " The music pulled up into a crescendo. Arthur all but pulled Kay off her feet leading her around the room, lifting and twirling as fast as he could.

 **Look at me,** he mouthed. **Focus.**

Kay had her eyes locked on his, only breaking contact for a twirl or turn. Her shirtsleeves bulged and the lengthier feathers made turns more difficult, but Arthur led her through.

_Hurry, Vivi._

Sweat dripped down his back, and Kay still gasped for every breath. The crescendo softened, the music fading down to a slow waltz, and Arthur fumbled a step.

This time it was Kay who caught him, pulling him back into step as they slowed the pace. The song ground to a halt as the final notes faded, and Kay slumped into Arthur's arms.

"Well. That was your birthday present. I hope you enjoyed it. But I don't think you heard it properly. After all, we forgot the piano arrangement." Lewis snapped his fingers, and a third ghost appeared at the piano.

Arthur lifted his head, staring straight at Lewis in disbelief. **She's. Your. Sister.** he mouthed.

"Not anymore," Lewis snarled, lifting his bow again.

A loud crash and chunks of flying wall drew Arthur's attention to the door, now a gaping hole. Mystery crouched there in all his six-tailed glory, lips drawn back from his teeth. Vivi slipped down from his neck, surveying the scene before her with a grim expression.

…..

There he was. That stupid skeleton floating in his stupid mansion with that stupid expression. She'd punt his stupid skull to another stupid country if he hadn't picked that stupid height to hover at. Lines of the last five exorcism chants she'd read up on spun through her head.

"As a token of whatever we used to have," she said, her voice flat, "You have exactly five seconds."

Immediately the mansion walls began to dissolve.

"Four."

Pink ghosts fled in every direction, but Lewis stayed right where he was.

"Three."

Nothing remained of the mansion. Lewis reached into his suit and pulled out a small gray box.

Vivi stiffened. "One."

Lewis vanished, leaving the box to clatter to the concrete.

Arthur sagged to the ground, still holding Kay. Mystery turned to the alley's entrance, growling something unintelligible. The air around them shimmered, and Mystery turned his attention to Kay. "We have some cover, no one can see."

Kay trembled like a leaf in Arthur's arms, choking on sobs and clawing at her arms. He grabbed her wrists, holding them away with one hand as he pressed his face into the crook of her neck. "Shhhhhhhhhhh."

"Mystery, we're gonna need visual cover on the way back to the hotel." Ignoring the gray box, Vivi squatted, grabbing one of Kay's arms and hooking it over her shoulder. "I don't think she can get rid of the wings right now, and we all need to regroup."

…...

 **Note:** Thanks to Vicky for helping me out with suggestions about the music.


	7. Done With Love

**Note:** Meynung Shiker sounds like May-nung Shy-ker. Also, note, on occasion there will be choices the characters make that may sound like I'm advocating/against something. That is not the point. This is character study, not moralizing. Whether I approve or disapprove of character choices has nothing to do with what they actually do.

…...

_"Yoo hoo, anybody home?" Arthur waved his hand in front of Lewis' face. "You've got that big, dumb grin again. You're clogging up the shop with little hearts, can you take it outside or move in with her already?"_

_"Ha, ha, Artie. Very funny." Lewis rolled his eyes. "I didn't come to get teased, I get enough of that back home. I came for help with Chem."_

_"Yeah, and while you were waiting for me, you zoned out into Vivi-land." Arthur spun a wrench for emphasis. "And who says I'm kidding?"'_

_Lewis' incredulity was maddening. "Come off it, Artie. You know that can't happen."_

_"Uh, no, actually, I don't. How come_ you're _so sure?"_

_Lewis pulled up a tire and plunked down on it. "I don't think there's really any need. I mean, she's got her things going, and I've got mine. We've got it good right now. No need to mess it up or anything."_

_"Whoah, whoah, hold up there. Mess it up? Are you kidding me? Hello, planet purple, come in planet purple. Her goo-goo eyes are worse than yours!" Arthur grabbed a rag, wiping his hands on it. "You may be her boyfriend, but I've been her pal since high school. There's things she tells me first because there's higher stakes telling you. I guarantee you it's one question away from happening."_

_Arthur smirked, satisfied at the little jaw-drop and sudden tugging at the purple ascot his declaration had induced. He squatted in front of Lewis. "So the real question here is, what's the holdup? For real."_

_Lewis' hand drifted up to rub the back of his neck, his eyes fixed on the concrete._

_"Lew? C'mon. Please. Gimme something, anything. Don't shut down now."_

_The hands dropped down to his lap, folding together. "I just…" He swallowed._

_"You afraid of what she'd gonna see under the fancy shirtsleeves?" Arthur snickered. His laughter vanished as Lewis' shoulders hunched. "Lewis, you serious? Is this about the scarring? She knows about that, right?"_

_Lewis gave a small nod._

_"I didn't mean to kid if that's it, but is that really it?"_

_Lewis' thumbs circled each other hesitantly. "It's not about the scarring. It's why."_

_Arthur held his breath. Lewis never talked about it, and Arthur had long given up trying to pry more information out of him. But if he was offering…_

_"I have… still… sometimes… I have nightmares." Lewis gathered himself every couple of words, watching his thumbs weave around each other. "I can't really remember them. I'm really confused and disoriented after. My… family… doesn't really know. I lock my door. I have… methods of… keeping quiet."_

_Arthur lowered himself to the ground carefully, afraid to make a sound and break his friend's stream of thought._

_Lewis finally lifted his face, and it pained Arthur to see him look so lost. "You're… you're supposed to share a lot more when you move in. It just… happens." He unbuttoned his sleeve, pulling it back to touch the marks on his skin. They'd faded since Arthur had first seen them as a kid, but it was still obvious something had worked Lewis over pretty thoroughly. "I don't even know if I'm dangerous like that, Artie. 'Cause nobody else is around for it. If we move in together…"_

_Arthur released a long breath, scratching his sideburns. "I see what you mean. But Lewis, you're nuts for Vivi, and she's pretty crazy over you."_

_"But what if that's not enough?" Lewis blurted. "What if she freaks out, what if I hurt her?"_

_"You didn't let me finish. Listen, if you two are this ga-ga for each other, eventually you were gonna get this close, right? Or didn't you think this part through?"_

_"I actively tried not to think much further than this step."_

_Arthur tilted his head. "So you weren't thinking of settling down with her for the long haul? Never crossed your mind?"_

_Flushing crimson, Lewis tugged on his ascot again. "Well, yes, but I... don't…" He cleared his throat repeatedly._

_"My point is, eventually this was going to happen. Either you'd get closer or drift apart. Which one are you more interested in?"_

_"Closer," Lewis mumbled._

_"Even if you're scared?"_

_"But what if I-"_

_Arthur held up a hand. "Just answer me first."_

_"Yes."_

_"Okay. So, how smart is Vivi? Oh, gods, not the eyes again. Okay, just by your face, you think she's brilliant. Yes, I agree. So, how about you ask her, and let her know a few of your concerns ahead of time?"_

_"Tell her?" Panic edged Lewis' voice._

_"What's the alternative? Surprising her? Unless you think you can keep these suppressed somehow."_

_Lewis dropped his head, rubbing his neck._

_"Hey, Lew. Remember something about Vivi." Arthur put a hand on Lewis' knee. "She's scared you'll see things about her too."_

_"But what if she sees things she can't live with?" He asked. "I don't think… I couldn't take it, Artie."_

_"You're never gonna know like this, Lew. It's your choice whether or not to ask, but if you don't, she might."_

_Lewis' head jerked up, a panicked expression on his face._

_"Sorry, Lew. You know Vivi."_

_"I do, oh man oh man, what am I gonna do?"_

_"Head her off at the pass. Ask her. Trust that maybe, just maybe, things will turn out better than you could have hoped. Personally?" Arthur stood, flipping his wrench. "I can't see anything ever coming between you two."_

…...

Vivi's jaw ached from its clenched position. Squire's jaw was set pretty hard too, and she was glad. Angry Squire was a clearer thinker than scared Squire, and she needed those gears turning.

Whatever Mystery had done, it worked like a charm. Nobody commented on their passing, in spite of Kay's full-fledged plumage and soft sobbing. Back at the hotel room, Arthur pulled Kay over to the bed and sat against the headboard, cradling her. He looked ridiculous, nearly buried in gold feathers as Kay clung to him, and Vivi had the vague sense she would be teasing him under any other circumstances. She couldn't muster even half a smile over Dulcie's hairclip, still embedded in Arthur's hair.

Her pocket had gained several ounces of weight on the trip over. The talisman had made its way back to her. She'd kept her mouth shut, but now she fingered the box in her pocket. "Squire. You and Kay stay here, all right? Try to calm down and piece what you can together. I'm going to get some more answers for us."

Arthur lifted his head, eyes wide, as Mystery growled, "Where exactly do you think you're going?"

"To have a little heart to heart with my boyfriend." Vivi crossed her arms. "And don't even start about how dangerous he is. He may have a bullseye on Arthur and Kay right now, but he ran as soon as I showed up."

"He ran as soon as _we_ showed up," Mystery corrected. "He knows what I could do to him."

"Look me in the eye and tell me you think he'd hurt me. Go on, I dare you."

"Vivi, I no longer know _what_ he's capable of. Before today, I would have said no, of course not. Now? I'm not sure."

Vivi turned to the door, tucking her scarf around her neck. "Yeah, well, I have five ways to send him to hell if he so much as twitches. I'm not afraid of him, and it's about time somebody gave me a straight answer. Mystery, if you give a rip about the Skulls, I need you to stand guard for Arthur and Kay." She paused, taking a breath. "I know you care. I'm sorry. Just… please, stay here. I promise I can handle myself."

Mystery walked over, dropping his forehead to nudge her shoulder affectionately. The dog-like motion startled a laugh from her, and she turned to give him a hug. "I promise I'll be back."

"I'm counting on it."

A knock on the wall turned her back to Arthur, who signed, **Be careful.**

Her lips tightened, but she gave a curt nod. "Will do."

…..

There was a small bridge they'd driven over on the way into town. Moss trailed in uneven patches along the stones and mortar that made up the waist-high guardwall. It spanned a bramble-choked creek, swollen to gurgling by recent rains. Vivi parked the van on the side of the road, just before the bridge, and crossed directly to the middle. Gripping the little gray box in her hand, she held it out over the creek and released it, ears attuned to the creek.

There was no splash.

"So are we just going to play fetch, then?" She crossed her arms. "I don't get a say in whether or not I even want this thing anymore, you're just going to dump it on me every chance you get?"

"Like hell I'm letting you walk into whatever you're planning without protection."

Vivi spun to the right. There he was, crouched on the roof of the van, cupping his hands around the box.

"I don't care if you don't like what it stands for anymore. You're the one that chose it as a protective talisman. If you cast something like that for you and," he paused, his eyes narrowing as he grated out, "and for him, that means you're looking for trouble. That means you need this."

She stood there, clenching and unclenching her fingers, staring up at him.

"You owe me _so. Many. Answers,_ " she snarled.

He turned his head away.

"Don't even. There are huge, gaping holes in my memory, and in spite of the fact I've collected at least four boxes of your stuff from my place, everything I know about you is second hand information. Though lately, I've come to question the 'loving brother' and 'best friend' bit."

His hair prickled, but he said nothing.

"Apparently I was madly in love with you one day, and an amnesiac the next. All I know is that you were there that night, because they dragged your corpse out of the cave. So." She cracked her neck, leaning forward. "What exactly happened that's so terrible, I can't even remember you? Or would you prefer to start with why you tried to murder my best friend? Oh, I know, how about telling me how the fickle frockmaster you know Duet, and why he has the same ghosts you do! And while we're at it, should I be calling your house and telling them to lock up Dulcie so she's safe from you too?" She took a step forward. "Should I call Juvenile Hall and tell them to put Aji in maximum security, if there even is such a thing for her age range? Tell me, who all's on your hit list Lewis he's-such-a-great-guy Pepper? Lewis he'd-never-hurt-anyone-such-a-catch-Vivi-can't-believe-he's-gone-you-must-be-devastated Pepper!"

The eyesockets widened with each sentence, his glowing retinas snuffing out until black hollows stared down at Vivi.

"Aji's… in… prison?" he faltered.

Vivi threw up her hands. "Unbelievable. Have you really been so dead set on Arthur you just skipped over the rest of your family and, I don't know, checking to see how they were? Remind me why I supposedly liked you, again?"

His skull retreated into his neck-hollow like a turtle withdrawing into its shell.

Vivi crossed her arms. "So. You're missing info and I'm missing info. As much as I'd love to send you to your final rest in pieces right now, I happen to have committed to helping someone who seems to have peripheral ties to you." She gritted her teeth. "And right now, I don't give a pig's foot for anything having to do with you, but _Arthur_ is running himself ragged trying to take care of your sisters. Something you're failing pretty miserably at."

Pink flames crackled from the neck of the suit.

"So for his sake and Chloe's, I'm willing to stand here and exchange information with you." Her shoulders rose to her ears. "And _if_ you answer every single one of my questions, I'll take the talisman back. Otherwise you can fish it out of the next ten dumpsters."


	8. A Legacy of Misuse

Everything was loose, uprooted and thrown around. Arthur's thoughts spun in opposite directions, careening off the inside of his head with the accuracy of a loose cannon. He had questioned if Lewis could ever be angry with him and dismissed it repeatedly until today, but it had never even entered the realm of possibility that Lewis could ever be angry with Kay.

Why? How? Kay had done nothing, nothing at all to deserve this treatment. It didn't make sense. Lewis only ever spoke of his sisters with tender affection, and Arthur had never seen him act otherwise either. Every expression of grief from the Pepper sisters, even Aji's rage, spoke of how much they loved him. Why would he turn on Kay?

The top of his shirt was plastered to his chest, wet and wrinkled. Mystery had dropped a tissue box within reach, and Arthur supplied them to Kay a handful at a time.

He was still missing information. That had to be it. He needed more information, but where was he going to get it? Lewis certainly wasn't going to give it to him, and he doubted even Vivi would be able to extract everything from Lewis, if she managed to break through to him at all.

Arthur signaled to Mystery, who sat down on the edge of the bed. "Yes, Arthur?"

**Translate me to Kay please.**

Mystery peered over his spectacles to Kay. "Kay, Arthur is asking me to translate his sign to you. It seems he has something to say. Ah, to ask. He wants to know if you know why Lewis did that to you."

Kay hid her face in Arthur's chest, her shoulders shaking with fresh tears. "He… I… it has to be… he knows dating me is a death sentence."

Arthur frowned, signing.

"That doesn't make sense," Mystery translated. "He wants me dead, so why would he be angry at you for that?"

"I don't-I don't know, Arthur, but why else would he tell you not to date me?" She lifted her head, grabbing a crumpled wad of soggy tissues to blow her nose with. "W-we talked. He knew I was afraid of this ha-happening. He told me it w-would be fine. Said the guy, whoev-ever he was would love me for who I w-was, not because of my voice. Th-then what? You finally tell him, and he s-says no. Why, Arthur?" She crushed the tissue in her hand. "It h-had to be because I'm a s-siren. A monster. Even he thinks s-so. Of anyb-body, I would have thought he wouldn't."

"Arthur is refusing to accept that as a possibility, but I tend to side with Kay on this." Mystery pushed his spectacles up. "To clarify, I do not think a relationship with you need necessarily end in death, but there is a high chance that Lewis came to this conclusion. If he encouraged you, it might have been because he didn't care as much if it was someone he didn't know. But suddenly it was Arthur."

Arthur's hands froze mid-denial, his eyes widening. He always had Lewis' back, and Lewis always had his back, at least before he died. Was Lewis watching his back by telling him no?

_You don't know what you're getting into. That's what he said. He wasn't wrong…_

Arthur's head sank, doubt seeping into his thoughts. _What would have happened if I just accepted what Lewis said? Trusted him and broke it off with Kay? I was going to, but I was so angry. I was so focused on him not having the right to tell me that. And then I pushed him off a cliff after he told me no… the logical conclusion… being…_

_That I betrayed him._

Arthur shook his head hard, signing again.

"That accounts for why he's angry at me-meaning Arthur," Mystery continued, "But not why he's angry with you. He never got home to tell you that you couldn't date me."

"Maybe he as-sumes I should know better." Kay wiped her face on the tissues again, before giving up on the soggy mess. "I m-mean look at me, Arthur. Look at this. Feathers ev-verywhere, and these." She lifted her hands, staring at the talons at the end of every finger. Up close, Arthur could see they extended straight from the tip of each finger. Each claw, thick around as a finger-bone, extended out and curved down to wickedly sharp points. He winced, vividly recalling the tips of those sinking into his face.

"And maybe I sh-should have," she continued, "but mayb-be I just wasn't ready to resign myself to being al-lone."

Arthur frowned. Gingerly, he lifted one of Kay's arms, trailing a hand down to where red stained the gold plumes. **Mystery. Wet towels, please.**

Mystery vanished into the bathroom, returning with damp towels. Accepting one, Arthur gently scrubbed at the dried blood. This close, he could see that where her hand ended, an extra finger-like appendage extended to support the rest of her wingspan. The punctures on her skin were already scabbed over. He checked her feathers and the skin below until he was sure the blood was cleaned away before turning his attention to her other arm.

She watched him in silence, sniffing occasionally. Once satisfied, he set her arms down and signed to Mystery.

"He says you don't have to be alone. He wishes he could prove it's not just your voice, but he doesn't know how. You'd have to be able to trust him in that. He says the only way you'd be alone is if he doesn't come out of this situation alive, but even then he might still be able to stick around." Mystery's eyes widened. "He says you and your sisters are his unfinished business, and he's not going anywhere until he knows you'll be alright, even if he doesn't make it."

Arthur pulled Kay's hand to his mouth, kissing it gently.

Kay wrapped her wings around him. Her feathers were soft and smelled of the sea, like her hair.

"I trust you," she whispered. "And you're going to make it through this alive if I have any say in it."

Turning her face with one hand, he kissed her softly on the lips. With a sigh and a small eye-roll, he turned away from her to sign to Mystery.

"I trust you too. Both of you. And I need your help." Mystery raised an eyebrow. "What do you have in mind, exactly?"

Arthur's hands flashed the signs rapidly. He had to tell them what he needed before he changed his mind.

Mystery chewed his lip, a low whine escaping him. "It appears he's ready to let me into his mind to gather information from the Shiker's memories. Kay, he'll need you to guide him back. It's easy to lose oneself to these fragments, but he insists he needs more information."

…...

Vivi settled herself cross-legged in the back of the van. Lewis hovered about an inch above the van floor, his knees folded up to his chest and his arms crossed defensively. The small gray box lay on the floor between them.

"So. I'm going first. Since you've attacked Arthur twice now I think that entitles me to start. Then you can ask me something. Let's start with where the fried fishmonger my memories went, if you even know the answer."

Lewis' hand crept up to the cracked blue heart on his suit. "I needed them."

Vivi's eyes widened. "You? It was you, not the Shiker? What the flipping-"

"My turn." Lewis' eyes re-ignited. "You said Aji was in prison. Why is she in prison?"

"She tried to burn Squire's house down. She's been assaulting him almost every time they meet, from what he says, but this is the first time she pulled something like this. Lance pressed charges."

Something like a satisfied smirk tugged at the edges of Lewis' eyes, and Vivi snarled, "Don't look so smug you self righteous son of a turkey baster. Did you forget your sister broke the law? Or are you so set on Arthur's death you don't give a flying saucebowl who else suffers anymore? Your whole family is falling apart!"

Lewis shifted. "Who else-"

"Nope, my turn." Vivi's eyes narrowed. "Why do you need my memories and when can I get them back?"

"That's two questions." He sighed. "You can't have them back. The second I died, _He_ was there, challenging who I was, asking me my name, pulling on my memories." His eyes burned. "My best friend betrayed me. Arthur wasn't what he said he was. He _didn't_ have my back, he was _planted_ there just so this could happen. I couldn't answer that monster's question. I didn't know who I was in that moment. Then I saw you, and you knew who I was. I needed that knowledge. I still do. You can't ever have them back, Vivi."

Vivi turned her head, growling, "Fine. Keep them. I don't want to know anything about you anymore. Good riddance."

Lewis' fingers clutched at the heart, but he said nothing.

"Your turn," she prompted.

His skull drifted forward, then back. He seemed to be re-collecting himself. "Dulcie. How is Dulcie?"

"She doesn't talk. I don't know why, but she hasn't talked since you died. She was dressing in your clothes for weeks afterward. Seems to have connected to Arthur. Who knows, maybe he even knows why she won't talk." She glowered at him. "You gonna punish her, too?"

His hair flickered. "Of course not! Why would you think that?"

"Gee, I don't know, maybe because I walked in on you using Kay as a murder weapon, then escorted them back to the hotel room where Kay is probably _still_ crying. I have no idea why I would suspect your motives about your sisters, Lewis."

"That's different. Kay knew what she was doing, dating Arthur behind my back. And then, after all that happened, she's still in love with my murderer!" His hair flared, licking at the side of the van. "She was probably planted too. He always plays the long game."

"There you go again, saying someone was planted. Who planted them? The Shiker?"

His skull whipped around. "Wait, that's the second time you've said-you _know_ about the Shiker?"

"We know some things. He left a bunch of memory fragments behind in Arthur-after he possessed him to murder you, I might add. It costs Squire a lot to dredge them up, he can't even talk anymore because it triggers visions."

Lewis's skull tilted sideways, thoughtfully. "That's why he tried to sign. I haven't heard him speak once." He shook his head, reassuming an angry glare. "Continue."

Vivi took a deep breath, counting to ten before resuming. "All we know is that this Shiker had you. We still don't know why he had you, just that he did pretty terrible things."

Lewis' eyes faded out again, his arms folded tighter around his middle.

"We know he sucks out something from human souls, whatever makes them individual, and that's where the little pink ghosts come from." She paused. "Speaking of which, how come you have them? Aren't they owned by the Shiker? Are you working for him?"

"Hell no." Lewis' tone could have frozen boiling water. "But nobody's ever gotten free of the Shiker by brute force before. With your memories helping, I was the first. Those things are just shells that follow power. Some left him and followed me when I fled the cave. Now they do what I tell them. Why are you looking for the Shiker?"

"We're not looking for him. We're looking for Duet and Chloe." She crossed her arms. "At first we were looking at them because we thought they had ties to _you_ but I couldn't care less about that now. Chloe's injured, and I'm pretty sure Duet is working with the Shiker. He said something about the Shiker over your casket at the funeral, and he attacked us with those ghosts."

Lewis' eyes narrowed. "I only ever knew Duet and Chloe from your work. I've never seen them before."

"You sure about that? Your journals are full of entries about memory holes _you_ were suffering from."

"You read those?" He put his hands over his face, hunching. "Ugh."

Vivi blinked. Mortification looked kind of cute on someone as huge and hulking as him. She shook her head hard. He'd burned Arthur alive. That was the Lewis she knew now, and she would treat him accordingly. "So? Did you know them and you can't remember it?"

"Not possible anymore." His voice came out muffled, his hands still covering his face. "The soul remembers what the brain cannot. There are no more holes."

Vivi's eyes widened. " 'A human's soul can remain completely intact, but you'd never know it if the brain got diced six ways.' "

Lewis peered through his fingers. "What?"

"Something Duet said when I asked him about reversing a memory spell." She jabbed a finger at him excitedly. "It makes sense. Your brain doesn't remember because it was damaged by whatever you're talking about, but the essential you, the soul, it remembers everything no matter what happens. Wow, this takes ghost-knowledge to a whole new level! None of them ever told us anything like this when we laid them to rest. And think of the applications for amnesia patients if we figured out how to harness the…" she trailed off, glancing up. Lewis was staring at her with a stupid expression on his face.

"Wipe that off your face right now you kneepad-faced-box-head. This isn't a date, it's an interrogation, and I could still send your flaming skull gift-wrapped to Tartarus if I decided to!"

The stupid look just got worse. She ground her teeth, trying to remember who had the next question and if she had any more.

Oh, right. This one would get that stupid look off his face. "So what's it going to take to keep you off Squire's back?"

There it went. His skull flamed out, his eyesockets glowing like the pits of hell. "Why are you helping my murderer, Vivi?"

"Because this wasn't a murder case, you bonehead." She leaned forward, matching his expression. "Squire was only a few hours out of surgery when he walked himself to your family's house with a written confession. Wow, sounds like something a murderer would do. Told them that even though he was demon-possessed at the time, they should decide his fate and he was willing to go to jail if they said so. Gee, sounds like something a murderer would say. The non-Aji consensus was that he couldn't have wanted to do it, so since then he's been doing what he can to watch out for your sisters. He's uncovered something big about your family, Lewis. Something you had no idea about. And you're running around trying to set the guy who continued to back you up after death _on fire!"_

"What exactly did he uncover about my family? The fact that they're sirens? Wow, Vee. Breaking news. I could have told you that." Lewis leaned back, smoldering. "There's nothing about this family I don't know. It's everyone else who didn't know, who wasn't allowed. They trusted me with everything, and I kept that trust!"

"Oh I have had it up to here with your self-righteous bucket of cactus pringles-there's a curse, you moron!" Vivi shouted. "There's a curse, and you already fulfilled the first line of it!"

….

_It is always delightful to break the new flesh in. Their dreams are so fresh, their curiosity so invigorating. It takes careful patience to break them, but the results are spectacular._

_Lewis. The name I will take from him is Lewis. His parents brought him on cue. They held onto their names and were allowed to leave for a time, but they couldn't escape the conditioning. On his seventh birthday they brought their child to me, then walked themselves off a cliff hand in hand. Still strong-willed, though, even with deep conditioning. They only had one child, no more. Still, perhaps he will provide a good harvest._

_He thinks I have left. He is curled up on a pile of gravel. I wonder what the pain is like. Fire is mine to command, so it does not harm me. What must it be to feel the scorching? What is it to have tiny little breaks in skin and bone? They scream so, all of them. Fascinating._

_A lump on the far side of the room shifts. Lewis' moans have woken Harvey. Harvey has been with me for months and is near harvesting, I only need one more push for his mind to give. It seems he is initiating the push himself as he squats by Lewis with a handful of bread._

_"Hey," I hear him whisper. "You're new, huh? My name's Harvey. What's yours?"_

_Lewis can only moan. Harvey breaks off a piece of bread and puts it in his mouth._

_"It's ok. You can tell me later. Don't worry. After a few hours, Shiker'll take you out to the paddock to heal. He just wants it to hurt. I'll show the ropes. There's ways to survive around here. You watch my back and I'll watch yours, okay?"_


	9. We Were The Victims

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Abuse trigger warning.

"Mystery, is he all right? He's shaking."

"No. Don't interrupt my concentration, Kay."

_I allow the interaction as the weeks pass. I am in no rush. There is all the time in the world to cultivate what I need. Once Lewis has healed enough to move again, I assign him to the paddock. He is to keep the herd groomed, clean, and fed. He will treat their wounds and report new pregnancies to me._

_He reports that one mare's stomach swells. I break his arm, and he asks why. I scorch the side of his face, laughing, "Now it is for asking why."_

_I visit the mare the next week and her womb is empty. The air smells of residual blood, though the straw has been changed. I dash Lewis against the rocks in the riverbed, holding him under until the water fills his lungs and I must lift him out to press half the river from him._

_"You didn't report the miscarriage to me," I hiss in his ear._

_"You punished me for reporting!" he cries, and I drown him a second time._

_"Report all to me," I remind him, dragging his sodden, half-conscious form to the paddock._

_Later, after he is healed, I watch him find Harvey, who shares a ragged blanket and rotting food. Cold and miserable, Lewis asks what he can do to avoid beatings._

_"You can't." Harvey's voice is heavy with resignation. "But if you don't do what he says, you'll always get a beating. If you do what he says, sometimes you won't. So always do what he says."_

_Smart, that Harvey. From then on, Lewis obeys my every command, and I withhold beatings at random, never allowing it to fall into a pattern so that there is always a moment of dread and hope comingled in his heart._

_It is never a problem for me, of course. They are healed and ready to commence their work the next day after a visit to the paddock. I can thrash them within inches of death and it never matters._

"Mystery, he's choking! You have to stop!"

"I can't find him! It's too dark, I lost hold on him. Kay, call him!"

_One day I make the rations smaller for Harvey, depriving Lewis entirely. Lewis comes begging for a mouthful, but Harvey says he has none. As Lewis sleeps, Harvey eats his ration. The next day I leave Harvey alone. He is smart, he will pick up the connection shortly._

"What about the other rooms? They'll hear!"

"I'll take care of the sound issue, just start calling him. Something's wrong."

_The more Harvey strengthens himself and lets Lewis weaken, the more I reward him. Harvey's rations grow. His beatings stop completely. I pull him aside and praise his cunning. His hope swells unbearably bright, but it is well. I bide my time. He is ripe for harvest._

"Arthur, stop! What are you doing?"

" _Hello puppet. Did you think this connection only went one way? I've found you."_

"Let go of Mystery!"

_"My, and you've found yourself a siren. Truly marvelous how the curse weaves itself, do you see it? It's wound all 'round you too. I could break her hold on you. Just don't fight me."_

….

"You expect me to believe I'm dead because someone placed a curse on my family?" Lewis growled. "Someone's pulling it over on you hard, Vee, and my bet's on Arthur."

"Are you calling me a spit-witted turnstile?"

Lewis paused. "I'm not saying anything of the sort!"

"If you really think Squire could pull the wool over my eyes, you might as well be! And if you think he's _trying_ to then _you're_ a spit-witted turnstile!"

Lewis palm thunked against his face, his fingers dragging down over his skull. "I'm saying Arthur isn't what he seems. He can't be. What he did fits the Shiker's agenda too well, and he was right there at my weakest moment!"

"That's because Arthur was possessed. How many times am I going to have to say it wasn't his fault?"

"Say it 'til you're blue. Bluer, anyway. It won't make a difference. The Shiker put him in my life to set me up because I didn't break the first time! I won't go out like them, Vee. I won't disappear, I refuse to be a deadbeat!"

Vivi blinked. "Deadbeat?"

Lewis' skull pulled back. "Uh, that's, that's what I call the pink ghosts. Deadbeats."

"Whatever. Lewis, if you really think Squire was planted here just to trip you up, I think I know what's keeping that skull lit, 'cause your head's full of fumes. The world does not revolve around you! Squire had a life outside of being your friend!"

"Part of which involved dating someone who had no business dating anyone to begin which, if I'm to be perfectly blunt. But if she had to doom someone, she shouldn't have picked someone I thought to be my friend."

Vivi stared at him, thunderstruck. "Kay… Kay thinks the world of you. Thought the world of you. How could you even…?"

"It's true, and she knows it! I'm dead, Vivi, and it's somebody's fault! If it's not Arthur's, it's Kay's! If it's not Kay's it's Arthur's! You tell me, who killed me?"

"The Shiker, you pie pilfering peasant stock porterhouse!" Vivi threw up her hands in disgust. "Does it occur to you on any level that, gee, maybe it's actually the source that's responsible and not the people he manipulates into place? Or are you too thick-skulled to even consider-"

Lewis darted forward, seizing Vivi's arms. His skull loomed in her face, flames billowing out and back from the top of his head. "I can't touch the Shiker! I'm more powerful in death than I ever hoped to be in life, and there's still nothing I can do to stop him if he finds me! Who can I hurt for this, Vivi?"

Heat seared Vivi's arms. She lashed out with a foot, landing it hard on Lewis' ribs. Eyes wide, he released her, scrambling back. "Oh gods, Vivi, did I… are you…"

For the second time, Vivi smelled burned flesh and her stomach churned in response. She didn't dare look down. Woodenly, she reached out and scooped up the little gray box, her fingers fixed on it like claws as her skin smoldered. "I guess I'll be going now. I'll just take this. Looks like I need it after all, to protect me from demons. Not to mention ghosts who act like demons."

The pink flames snuffed out, the glow in Lewis' eyesockets fading away.

She needed him gone. She didn't want his pity. She wanted him to only see her anger, and she was about to cry from the pain. "Now, if you'll get your sorry bones out of my van, I have to go knock heads with Squire to see if he's got any leads on Chloe and Duet."

A flash of pink slipped in through the front window, circling Lewis' skull with distressed chirps. Lewis' eyes flickered back to life as he tilted his skull, listening.

"Did you hear me, bonehead? I said get out of my-"

Lewis seized the pink flash. "I wouldn't go back right now if I was you, Vivi. You want proof Arthur was planted? I've had the Deadbeats watching him. Take a look at what he's doing behind your back."

He held the Deadbeat like a screen stretched between his hands. An image flickered on it. It was the hotel room she'd just left. Kay gripped Arthur's hair and right arm, hauling backward. Arthur's skin had a faint green tinge, and a nauseating grin lit his face. His prosthetic was buried up to the wrist down Mystery's throat.

"Now do you believe me?"


	10. Maybe It's Inside of Me

Twisting hard, Kay yanked Arthur back by his hair again. There was hardly breath to say his name, much less sing, but she had to buy Mystery space somehow. Locking her leg around his left arm, she strained to break his hold. This was definitely not Arthur. Arthur she could beat in a game of arm wrestling, and had on some of their early dates. Whatever this was, she could barely restrain it.

"Release his body, siren child." His voice sounded like a horde of snakes slithering up his throat.

Gritting her teeth, she yanked back and sucked in enough breath to call, "Arthur!"

"I will flightstrip you, feather by feather, like your mother. Release his body."

Kay's talons dug into Arthur's scalp, her jaw clenching as she gave one mighty twist with her body, flipping them both off the bed and onto the floor. Mystery gasped for air, dragging himself to drop to the ground on the other side, the bed now between him and Arthur.

Arthur's elbow drove into her gut, loosening her grip on his hair and arm. He wrenched free, flipping over to pin her by the shoulders. His sclera were no longer white, but pitch black. His irises were green as poison, as was the rest of his skin, and his lips pulled back in a grin too wide for any human mouth.

"So, this is the siren's firstborn." He raised a finger to his temple, eyes drifting in thought. "And already informed of your fate. Pity. The bloom is that much more beautiful with shock. Foreknowledge dampens the fragrance."

Kay slid her leg out and brought it crashing into his ribs, toppling him onto his side. He rolled under the bed, crawling toward the other side.

"Mystery, look out!" she called, grabbing Arthur by the ankle. "Arthur, come back!" She couldn't think to form a song. What even would she sing? Had this thing destroyed Arthur, or was he still there?

He had to be there. He'd survived this once already. "Arthur!"

Hesitation. He hesitated, just long enough for her to yank him back to her side. He was still in there. She pounced, driving her knee into the small of his back and locking her arms around his from behind.

"I am going to particularly enjoy the fulfillment of your fate," Arthur growled. "In fact, I will see to it very personally."

"I'm not afraid of you," Kay seethed. "Whatever you are, Arthur and Vivi will find a way to take you down. You… you're the reason my brother died. You…" Rage trembled up her arms, and she fought the urge to wrench out the arms she restrained. It was Arthur's body, and he would suffer for it later if she didn't keep control. "You killed Lewis. You hurt Arthur. Were you the one that cursed us?"

"So she does not know all. Perhaps the answer is yes. Perhaps the answer is no. Perhaps it is a little bit of both. But let me assure you of something." He curled his legs up, hooking his ankles at her neck and yanking back with his legs, "You may not be afraid of me. But I know what you _are_ afraid of."

Kay's head hit the floor, sending stars across her vision. Something else cracked as Arthur pulled himself to his feet and glanced across the room. "Ah. You. I remember you." He tilted his head, grinning. "You were there. You were watching."

"Deus, cui próprium est miseréri semper et párcere." Vivi's voice shook with rage as she bowled into Arthur shoulder-first, driving him back into the wall. "Súscipe deprecatiónem nostram!"

Arthur wheezed, laughing. "You must be joking. An exorcism prayer? Hardly enough."

"Ut hunc fámulum tuum, quem. Delictórum caténa constríngit, miserátio tuæ pietátis cleménter absólvat." Vivi flipped open a panel on Arthur's prosthetic, withdrawing a golden feather. Kay sucked in a breath. He'd kept it that close?

Vivi passed it in front of Arthur's face, glaring. "Whatever you are, nobody here wants you, including Squire. He's under the protection of everyone in this room, and you'd better let him go before I have to pull out the big guns."

"Big guns?" Arthur's head lolled to the side, laughter wrung from his lungs like a wet towel twisted too tight. "Big guns. Listen to that, Lewis. The mortal threatens me with 'big guns'."

"Stop talking to someone who's not here!" Vivi clapped the feather to the side of his face, hissing, "Kay, sing!"

Kay shut her eyes against the sight of Arthur and covered her ears against Vivi's renewed chanting. What was it Mystery said? Siren songs could be used to guide the lost. Arthur was buried a lot deeper this time, the song would have to reach farther than before. She reached for moments and memories to ground the song in.

Scents of oil and grease and the musical clank of half a dozen wrenches and ratchets ringing in the space of a single garage. An exuberant, jubilant shout of triumph over a particularly troublesome mechanical issue. A lift and spin of celebration, his face stretched with laughter. His name ran from her mouth like water, end to end to end until it was hardly a word anymore, strung along a desperate melody she flung out like a lifeline.

"You can stop now."

She knew that voice. Her jaw snapped shut and her eyes flew open. Lewis stood behind Vivi, his massive hands clamped over the sides of her head. Arthur sagged against Vivi, who struggled to hold him up. There was no longer any sign of green on him.

…..

A giant hand reached past Vivi, plucking the feather from her grasp and holding it up. "So. This was his talisman. I should have guessed." The feather disintegrated in a flash of pink flame.

Vivi staggered under Arthur's weight, glaring up at Lewis. "What are you doing here? I told you to go away. I told you not to follow me back."

"On this trip, Vivi, you couldn't keep me farther than a stone's throw. Perhaps you forgot the consequences of telling a siren to sing, but I haven't and I'm not ready to watch you die just yet, even if you seem hell-bent on it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"It means that whatever you're getting yourself involved in, you're going up against the Shiker. I've already told you, you can't match him. I can't match him, and however powerful Mystery is, it seems _he_ can't match the Shiker either, so unless you know someone even more powerful, this is a suicide mission."

"I don't care! And I don't want your help!" Vivi dropped Arthur, rising to her toes. "Ever since that night nothing in my world works right! Everything's a missing piece or a tipping point or a trigger! Everyone's out to kill the last few friends I have left! You wanna know one of several consequences of you killing off Squire?" She jabbed a finger at his suit, wincing as the motion tugged at her burns, but he stepped back. "Because even if you don't care about Kay anymore, I know you care about me. And let me tell you, Squire and Mystery are about all I have left. And guess what? I know Mystery will be perfectly fine without me."

Lewis stood stock still. "What are you saying, Vivi?"

"I'm saying your journal entries mention that you had to haul me off a set of train tracks."

"You wouldn't."

"I don't remember you!" Vivi shouted. "I don't remember your death! I can't grieve what I didn't lose, but I know Squire! And I can only take so much of this, Lewis!" Even as she said it, she knew it to be true. Arthur's death would put her over the edge again, dropping her into free fall.

The teeth on Lewis' skull sharpened, his eyes flashing. "You test my patience, Vivi! There is a right and a wrong here, a murderer and a victim, and you continue to stand in the way of justice."

"Did you just miss the full on possession?" Vivi snarled. "Oh, wait, let me guess. 'It doesn't matter, Vivi, he was planted there.' Well what if he was? Does that make it his fault?"

Lewis paused, and Vivi pressed on. "Assuming you're right and he was born and planted there for the sole purpose of being used as a tool of murder, does that make it his fault? I bet you had to do some pretty crummy things to survive whatever that creature did to you." Lewis flinched. "Ah, so your hands aren't so clean, are they? So where's the justice for you, huh?"

"It…" he faltered. "It wasn't my…"

"Wasn't your fault? Gee, where have I heard that before? Maybe if you stopped for two seconds and took the time to actually _look_ at Squire, you'd realize he's been-"

A ragged cry interrupted her diatribe. She glanced over her shoulder to see Arthur, still lying on the ground, struggling with his shirt. He pulled it off and began fumbling with the straps that held his prosthetic in place.

"Squire?" She turned, her voice dropping lower as she crouched. "Squire, what is it?"

He pulled away, struggling with the straps. Once he'd clicked them free, he tore at the connection, unlocking each of the four latches and removing the arm. He hurled it across the room, making terrible rasping sounds in his throat.

"Calm down!" Vivi grabbed for his arms, but he jerked away. His head tilted back and he stared just over her head, before bursting out into grating laughter. He curled up on his side, winding his remaining arm around his head, and howled.

Vivi shut her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. Everything was right on the edge, ready to fall off any second. She could feel it. But she couldn't break down, not yet. "Kay, I need you over here. I know your jerk of a brother is here right now, but Squire… please. Just come here."

Feathers brushed her arm. She slid to the side, pulling Kay into her spot. "Please. Do what you can for him. Lewis and I are going to check on Mystery."

Lewis made no protest as Vivi grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him to the limp form she'd rushed past on the way in. Dropping to her knees, she scooped Mystery into her arms.

"Talk to me, buddy. Anything. I don't care if you have to do the mind-thing or if you just bark. Give me something."

One eye cracked open, rolling around to fix on her. His tongue slid out, swiping slowly along her arm. She gave a small cry as his tongue hit her burns. Adrenaline had let her power through the pain, but now it built again, spiking at the touch.

A low growl rumbled in Mystery's chest, and he struggled to sit up in her lap. "What… what did you… do…" He caught sight of Lewis and bared his teeth. "Did… did he…"

Just a word, Vivi realized. All she had to do was say the word and Mystery would rid her of Lewis. This injury was proof enough he wasn't what everyone thought, and Mystery could wipe him out. Arthur would have one less target on his back. Kay wouldn't have to worry about Lewis using her voice. Vivi could focus on her main mission again without him breathing down her neck.

But it had been a moment. An inexcusable moment, but a moment. Every other moment Lewis had actively defended her, and even broke off his attack on Arthur both times she interfered.

"He'll never do it again," she said, ice in every word. "He had a little trouble controlling his temper, but he's going to learn real quick so it doesn't happen again. Isn't that right, Lewis?"

"Yes." She almost missed his response, it was so quiet.

"Which is good, because he's going to be rejoining us. Provided he can keep his hands off Arthur and promises to leave Kay alone."

Lewis stiffened, but Vivi cut him off. "You want to keep an eye on me? Fine. If you have to. But if that's the case, you don't get to touch them, you got me? If I can't make you see how Squire's not at fault, fine. I don't care. But you don't get to torch him or do death-by-song. If you really do still care about me, you won't deprive me of the last living human member of my team."

Lewis' shoulders sagged, and his skull turned aside. "Agreed," he said in the same quiet voice.

Mystery slumped back into Vivi's arms, and she massaged his jaw. "You gonna be alright?"

"He didn't… get it," Mystery panted. "But... Shiker knows where… I am."

Arthur moaned from across the room, and Vivi lifted Mystery up, laying him on the bed pillows. Grabbing the prosthetic off the ground, she scooted across, dropping back down to the other side where Kay once again held Arthur.

"Hey. Squire. Listen. I know everything's falling apart right now, but we can't. You can't. I need you. Lewis isn't going to touch you, I got that much from him. Take this."

Arthur kicked at the prosthetic, shrieking as he pointed with his remaining arm.

"Don't do this, Squire!" Vivi dodged his foot. "I need to know what's going on in your head. Signing isn't good enough, phone isn't good enough. Type it up, talk to us. What were you doing when the Shiker took you?"

"He was trying to go through the memory fragments," Kay murmured, keeping her eyes down. "To find out what happened to Lewis, and why he was so angry."

"Oh, so the murder thing wasn't obvious enough?" Lewis flared. "He had to go digging for another reason?"

"Stop. Talking." Kay's lips twisted around the words. "I don't want to hear from you."

"Kay, don't start this. Not now, I can't deal with multiple battle fronts." Vivi held Arthur's prosthetic. "Mystery, are you okay?"

"As 'okay' as I can be," he panted.

"Okay. Squire, you didn't kill Mystery. You didn't steal the Hoshi no Tama. And that wasn't you to begin with, you know it. Just like it wasn't you killing Lewis."

He pointed to the arm again, choking.

"I know, the same arm. But that creature had all of you this time, it wasn't just this arm. Please, we need to hear what was happening, and you need both arms to tell us unless you've magically regained the ability to speak."

Arthur shook his head.

"Maybe Kay could-" Arthur shook his head harder. "Okay, no siren orders right now. So that just leaves this. Come on, Squire. Double header, you get to talk to Lewis and tell us what happened just now." Vivi wiggled it in his face. "Don't make me strap you down and reattach it myself. Besides, you can't keep putting Kay through this. It's gotta be hard watching your boyfriend be shirtless this long without pulling a full-on make-out session."

Arthur stared at her, and Kay's jaw dropped.

"Well look at that, he's listening all of a sudden." Vivi shoved the prosthetic at him. "Shock factor works like a charm. Suit up, Squire. Like I've been saying for the past ten minutes, we have to talk."


	11. By The Ones You Think You Love

Suit up? _Suit up?_ Lewis was hovering like a wraith over Vivi's shoulder and she wanted Arthur to just suit up and talk?

Numbly, his fingers fumbled with the latches of the prosthetic. An additional set of hands helped fit and lock it in place, but he hardly registered them.

They were all there in his head. All the pieces, or at least most of them. Was it most? It was a lot more than he'd had before, but they were jumbled together in his mind and he wasn't sure where one ended and another began. Tell Vivi what was going on? There was nothing to tell until he could put it in order.

And how was he supposed to put it in order when _pink flames scorching up along his body oh gods this was what hell must be like_ staring down at him like an insect to be squashed how did he get like this _Harvey says he'll have Lewis' back and then_ is Mystery all right? Vivi says he didn't kill Mystery but did he hurt him? He has to apologize, but Mystery knows he would never _ever kill Lewis, it should be obvious, how could he not understand_ have your back all the time just like you have mine and _cursed, a mortal could never understand, one who's never seen the face of a god_ flightstripped like her mother, I flightstripped Mrs. Pepper but it wasn't me, it was _wound all around you, can't you see it has already woven you into its design_ don't go, little boy, don't die please _he won't break he isn't any use to me_ he was after Mystery's soul _fated to kill Arthur_ -

The sea. He could smell the sea, and he buried his face in the scent, shuddering. He couldn't bring his mind around to anything.

"I think it's going to have to wait." Someone was talking, and he clung tighter. Such a melodic voice. "Look at him. He can't even put it back on by himself. He has had three attempts on his life today, plus a possession. No, Vivi. I'm sorry, he needs rest." It whispered in his ear, and he hoped it would never stop. "I'm sorry, Arthur. Sleep now."

There was nothing more he wanted….

…..

The shaking stilled and Arthur's head lolled back. Kay swallowed back her guilt, hoping he would forgive her later. Was this what Mom felt every time she made a definitive statement around Dad?

"Vivi, I think we should leave," she said quietly. "That thing said it would see very personally to the fulfillment of my curse, and it seemed to be after something from Mystery. It was in Arthur, so it probably knows where we are right now."

Viv's jaw worked for a moment before she turned to scoop up the laptop, slipping it into her bag. "You're right. We gotta blow this place. Lewis, make yourself useful and grab the gear. Mystery, what do you think you're doing? You just hold still." She scooped Mystery into her arms and glanced back at Kay. "I'll come back and help you with Squire."

Lewis simmered, but reached toward Arthur. "I'll bring him to the van."

Kay's talons flashed, tearing across his suit and sending him staggering back. "Don't. Touch. Him."

The rips mended themselves, and Lewis stared down at her, his shoulders rising. "Of course you can handle this yourself. Why just look at yourself, all feathers and claws and dragging an unconscious man. They won't suspect a thing."

Kay drew Arthur closer.

"We don't have time for this!" Vivi snapped. "Lewis, get your insubstantial bones out to the van as inconspicuously as you can. Kay, take a few minutes to retract the birdage. I'll be at the front desk, checking us out."

Lewis grabbed the luggage, brushing past Kay to phase through the wall. Muttering under her breath, Vivi carried Mystery out of the room.

He was right, though. She couldn't leave the room like this, but she didn't have the luxury of time. She also didn't have a huge coat like Chloe, that would be useful. Maybe the sheets-but then she'd be caught for stealing.

She glanced down at her arms, biting her lip. What were the chances someone would really believe the feathers were hers? Nobody believed creatures like her existed. While there was the occasional bigfoot report and groups like the Mystery Skulls chasing ghosts and demons, she'd never seen a single mention of a siren. There were, however, many convincing costumes out there, and makeup artists who could do fantastic things.

Pulling Arthur's arm over her shoulder, she stood to her feet. She wrapped one arm around his waist and carried him toward the door, allowing his feet to drag on the ground to lend the illusion he was hard to carry.

She passed Vivi, who shot her a hard look as the clerk gaped. Kay managed a small smile. "I'm gonna have to get him to tell me where he learned to do this, after he wakes up." She nodded at her arms. "Pretty convincing getup, huh? I'll be the main attraction at the event."

Vivi raised an eyebrow, nodding. "Yeah, he's, uh, always been quite the designer. Looks like the really gave it his all this time. Better get him to the van."

Relieved, Kay hefted Arthur out to the parking lot. As she approached the van, she noticed Lewis smoldering away in the passenger's seat. Her stomach knotted, but she averted her eyes. Loading Arthur into the back, she locked the doors and crouched next to him, trying to pretend it was just her and Arthur there.

Or even better, that she was just alone in her sycamore. She shut her eyes, burying her face in her arms. Maybe none of this was happening, and she'd already lost her mind. That would be easier. She could just wait for Lewis to come tell her how ridiculous she was being, and that everything was going to be all right.

"You should have told me. None of this would have happened if you'd told me."

Kay said nothing. Her brother wasn't speaking to her. Her brother was dead and buried. She'd been mistaken, and this was an imposter here to torment her. She wouldn't give in, wouldn't acknowledge it any more. Vivi, Arthur, and Mystery existed. This thing did not, and she would treat it accordingly.

"I could have told you exactly what would happen. Look at him, falling asleep on cue, like a dog." The temperature in the van rose. "Eventually you'll kill him, whether you mean to or not. It's just your nature."

Kay clutched Arthur close, as if she could put him between the cruel words and herself.

"You knew this, but you still picked him. And then he didn't have my back when I needed it."

It isn't Lewis, she mouthed to herself. Not my brother.

"I hope you're happy with him. I hope you learn to enjoy his servitude, because you'll never have love."

She tilted her head back, opening her mouth for air. How could words hurt so much?

"I… I waited for you." She ran a hand down her arm. The feathers were finally receding. "At the sycamore. Waited. You didn't come. You were supposed to come tell me… it was okay. You weren't really dead."

"I'm really dead," he returned, "and nothing about this is okay."

"I want to go back. Please. I want to go back to the sycamore. Come get me, Lewis."

"I never wanted to go up there to begin with! Mom always ordered me to go after you! Do you think I really enjoyed climbing that high myself?"

Maybe going mad would be easier than this. It had to hurt less. But then, who knew what she would tell Arthur to do in such a state? No. That was not an option.

The front door slammed, and the engine roared to life. "You'd better not be trash talking Kay," Vivi warned, backing out of the lot.

"I'm not touching either of them," Lewis muttered, "I'm allowed to talk to my own sister."

Kay lifted her head, turning it slowly toward the front. "No. I'm not your sister. I'm Lewis' sister. And you're not Lewis."

"Don't say that!" His skull lurched forward, stopping inches from her face. "Don't you dare tell me who I am! I know who I am! I am Lewis Pepper!"

"Lewis doesn't have flames," she said quietly. "He's kind and he makes me brave enough to come out of the tree myself, and he's dead." She turned away. "You're not Lewis."

Sweat ran down the back of her neck and the air sizzled like the desert at noon, but he didn't say anything else. His skull retreated to the front with the rest of his suit, and Kay lay down next to Arthur, wishing she could be unconscious too.

….

It wasn't like any dream Arthur was used to, and that set his teeth on edge. Below him, Kay hauled his body out of the room, past Vivi, and loaded him into the back of the van. He heard every cutting remark Lewis had for her, but couldn't twitch, much less punch Lewis' skull across the van like he wanted.

Did he want that? Lewis was the one wronged.

But he wasn't the only one wronged, and his lashing out wasn't helping anything. The vines were tightening around Kay's head with every word Lewis-

Vines. How had he not seen them before? Little green shoots wound around Kay's neck up through her hair, framing her head like a crown. They spread out from the middle of Lewis' torso, wrapping all around his waist in a vice grip that strained the suit. Even on his own body he could see them, winding up and down his arms, curled around each finger.

Waiting.

_"It's wound all around you too. You're already affected. Whatever happens, you will be part of it. You can't stop a god's curse."_

This is what Mrs. Pepper had meant. If she could see the curse like this and who it touched, then… then it wasn't his fault. She'd known all along, and hadn't done anything. Relief and rage coursed through him. She could have averted _everything_! Maybe even Lewis' death! She was far more responsible than even Mr. Pepper guessed.

Vivi! Was she-no. She was clear of any vines, as was Mystery. The curse hadn't touched them. He turned back to his own body, studying the vines. Why had the curse affected him? He wasn't part of the Pepper family, he shouldn't have fallen to it. Unless…

_"The early death of eldest son. The firstborn's mind to come undone. The second one to kill and rage. The third to live within my cage."_

He didn't understand Dulcie's curse yet, but three out of four lines seemed to implicate his actions or potential action against him. Had he been drawn in by proximity? Did the curse latch onto people it deemed useful? Was it alive? It had to be, it presented itself as a vine for crying out loud. This changed everything. Affected people could be quarantined. Vines could be poisoned. Mrs. Pepper was wrong, there had to be a way out of it, he just needed the right information.

And there it was. It was all a jumble in his waking mind, but now he had time. First, the curse. Who cast it?

_"Imagination, milked from the mind of a broken child, to give the curse adjustment."_

One of the Shiker fragments. The Shiker cast curses. Farmed children, in fact, for one of the ingredients. Lewis must have been one of the children, but he hadn't broken. Imagination. It made all the sense in the world. If a curse was cast hundreds of years before, it would need to adjust to new surroundings, times, and situations in order to fulfill its purpose. Who had a greater range of imagination than a child?

What were the other ingredients?

" _Unicorn's horn to give the curse longevity, and the cruelest kind of hope."_

The Shiker kept referencing the "paddock" and had Lewis take care of the "herd." Was it possible? He chuckled at himself. He was dealing with demonic memories embedded in his head, dating a siren, running from a ghost, and yet he paused at the idea that unicorns existed. What longevity meant in this case, he wasn't sure yet, but it was something to keep in mind.

His mind shuddered to a halt. Horn. Not unicorns, unicorn _horn_. Just the horn. Chloe was always wearing a bandage on her forehead… no, it was too great a leap. He couldn't assume one head wound meant-and yet Vivi claimed Chloe had healed him, and the consensus was that Chloe could not be human, though she had no knowledge of what she was. But she was wearing a corrupted hoshi no tama, how did that impact the situation?

_"A corrupted hoshi no tama to incubate the curse from planting to harvest."_

If he needed further proof that this vine was the curse, the Shiker thought in terms of planting and harvesting them. Whatever properties the hoshi no tama had, it must be enough protection to nurture the curse. Chloe and Duet each wore one, were those harboring would-be curses? Were they walking incubators?

He had to apologize to Mystery. Mystery had showed him exactly where to find his hoshi no tama, and the Shiker now had access to that knowledge.

Don't sidetrack. Stay on the curse. So the Shiker cast the curses, but Mrs. Pepper had talked about a goddess, so the Shiker was likely carrying out someone else's dirty work. Maybe even selling curses. If he was farming them it wasn't much of a leap to guess that a market existed. The idea that the law of supply and demand could extend beyond the mortal plane made him laugh.

So, he had to find a way to kill the curse. Many antidotes were made from the venom they were intended to cure, was there a way to do that?

No. He couldn't. The cost was too high on each of the ingredients. There had to be another way. And he needed the brainstorming power of the whole team on this.

The van was still gunning down the road at the speed of Vivi's anger. How long had it been? They had to be far enough away for a measure of safety by now. Kay had told him to sleep, but not for how long. Could he wake himself up?

She lay next to him, curled up in a fetal position with her head on his chest. As soon as he woke, so would she. And she'd been through enough for one day.

It wouldn't hurt to let Vivi put a little more distance between them and the hotel.


	12. I'm Searching For Trust

Time and silence gave Vivi space to recollect herself, but now her head threatened mutiny. Adjusting her phone, she checked the tracker app. With each movement, ragged sweater fragments passed over her skin, rubbing against the burns. Her jaw ached, but she wouldn't crack. Not in front of him. She could see him out of the corner of her eye. He'd been staring at her the whole time. How long was he going to do that?

"How long are you going to drive?"

"Oh. So you do still talk. Shut up."

"You've been going for hours. You have to stop."

"Shut. Up."

"No, I mean it." Lewis pointed at the gas gage. "You're running on empty. Pull off."

Vivi jerked the wheel, swerving across the empty road. "One more word outta you, skull-head, and I'm gonna… I'm…" Her vision spun. Everything was blurred and she couldn't see the lines in the road. Something warm covered her hands, and she blinked, shaking her head. Lewis' hands gripped the wheel, his eyesockets wide.

"Mystery, get her out of the driver's seat before you all crash?"

A weight shifted off her lap. Her seatbelt clicked free, and long arms hooked under her armpits, pulling her into the back seat. Lewis settled into the driver's seat. The van listed off to the side of the road and coasted to a stop. A hand turned Vivi's face forward. Yellow spectacles.

"Flushed. Too warm. Likely caught a fever. Vivi, why didn't you treat your arms before we left? Someone should have woken me."

"You were covering. Re. Recovering," Vivi muttered, trying to rub her eyes. Her wrists were caught in something.

"Don't move your arms!" Mystery scolded. "They're oozing. Ugh, don't move. I'll get the first aid kit."

Vivi lay down on the seat, wishing she could muster up the energy to be mad again. Right now there were too many sad pink eyes swimming around.

"Back off," Mystery snarled, and the pink eyes left.

"Mystery, it's me. Lewis. You know me!"

"I thought I did. I'm not as sure as I was yesterday. And until I know more, I'll thank you to keep all incendiary extremities to yourself."

"You don't think I did this on purpose!"

"I understand from Vivi that you threw a temper tantrum, and from Arthur that you can't be trusted."

"And what did he say?"

"Nothing!" Mystery snarled. "He was screaming too loudly to say anything. I was there that night too, you know."

"Arthur had it coming."

"And to think I was actually fond of you. If this is what you were hiding this whole time, this other you, I'm glad you died before you could do real damage to Vivi."

It was getting unbearably hot in the van. "Good to know who's still on Arthur's side when the chips are down. That would be one, two, three, ah. Everyone here but me. Speaking of secrets and hiding things, when were you going to tell Vivi what you were? Was that ever going to happen?"

"I don't want to hear you throwing accusations, child. You've wounded my charge and nearly killed a good friend."

"I'm not a child," Lewis seethed.

"Then stop acting like one! When are you going to-" Mystery's words cut off as the back door screeched open. "Arthur? Where are you going?"

"Squire?" Vivi struggled to sit up. "What's he going?"

The side door slid open, and a bright orange blur sat by her. The blur made a snipping sound by each of her shoulders, then pulled off her sweater sleeves. Cool cream slathered on the burns, easing the throb. The orange sat back, waving other blurry parts at Mystery.

"What do you mean you and Lewis need to talk?" Mystery barked in disbelief. "You're not seriously taking a walk with him!"

Alarm spiked her. "Nnno Squire!"

A hand slipped into hers, squeezing briefly, before letting go.

"Arthur, I can't leave Vivi to watch out for you!" Mystery warned.

"You don't have to worry about my self-control, dog." Lewis' voice was brittle ice. "Vivi has made it perfectly clear that the traitor is not to be injured any further." The front door slammed, shaking the van.

"Sssquire!" Vivi lurched after the retreating blob, and her stomach revolted. Mystery barely got her to the side door before she retched a thin bile.

"You're not going anywhere." Mystery lifted his head. "Arthur, at least stay in eyesight! Idiot. He's going to get himself killed."

…..

Arthur's ears burned as he stalked out into the night. Enough was enough. He'd done what Kay asked. He slept. Now it was time to deal with Lewis. He'd left her curled in the back of the van, drawing Lewis after him down the road. A harsh pink glow lit his immediate surroundings. Heat drew sweat from his neck and back. He missed a step, stumbling at the _flames everywhere someone kill me, please end it_ -

 **No!** He whirled on Lewis with large, emphatic gestures. **Burned** **Vivi? Really? Of all people?**

"Don't you lecture me, Arthur. The only reason you're not on fire right now is because of her. Nothing's changed."

Arthur's shoulder rose. **You changed.**

"Real observant, Arthur." Lewis leaned forward, his skull an inch from Arthur's nose. "I died."

Arthur locked his knees. He would not back down. **Why couldn't you tell me about Kay? Why couldn't you trust me?**

"They're hiding in plain sight! Everything depends on secrecy for them! You shouldn't be pointing fingers when you're the one who kept this from me."

**We wanted to see if it would work first. We were going to tell you. I told you that night!**

"Great timing, Arthur. You tell me, I say no, and you just happen to find a convenient ledge to shove me off."

Arthur ground his teeth, his eyes smarting. **Do you really believe I wanted you dead? I always had your back!**

"Against high school bullies, Arthur!" Lewis blazed, a nearby bush beginning to smoke. "Against playground jerks and the occasional hazing, _not when I needed you most!_ I was looking out for you!"

**No! You weren't! If you were looking out for me, you'd have given me all the information I needed to make my own decision! Unless you really thought I'd turn them in.**

"I really don't care what excuses you think you have for your actions. The simple fact is that I'm dead, Arthur. Vivi will never remember what she was to me. I'll have to be looking over my shoulder for as long as I exist here, and if that's forever, then probability is high that the Shiker will catch me someday. You stole my life so you could be with Kay, and she's no better. She _knew._ You took everything from me, both of you!"

 **So you're the only one entitled to love?** Arthur's fingers jerked and jabbed sharply. **Poor Lewis, can't remember who's chasing him, finds someone who loves him, and then Arthur's left alone and Kay ends up with gods-know-who and they all lived happily ever after, the end?**

Lewis paused, and Arthur pressed the point. **If you trusted me, why couldn't you trust me with Kay? And if you trusted Kay-you didn't trust Kay.** Arthur took a step back, his shoulders rising. **I see. You only acted like you did.**

"You wouldn't, if you had a choice, of course."

Arthur stared at Lewis, inhaling slowly. He would never win an argument with Lewis like this. This wasn't the Lewis he knew. He had to appeal to the Lewis from before they met, but that would involve releasing everything Lewis had done to him since, not allowing it to taint his choice of words.

Lifting his hands, he signed, **What's my name?**

Lewis' form roiled with flame. "What sort of sick twist on the question is that?"

**Well if you know it, say it.**

"Your name is Arthur Kingsmen," Lewis seethed. "I know who you are, and I know who I am, and if you really do have the memories you claim to, you should know better than to ask me that."

Ignoring him, Arthur replied, **Then why do you act like I'm Harvey?**

Lewis lunged forward, reaching for Arthur. His hands hung just over Arthur's shoulders, trembling. Arthur knew he was one wrong sentence away from a collapsed collarbone. His prosthetic rattled and he grabbed it, trying to force a calm that was rapidly deserting him. **I'm not Harvey, Lewis. I was never given a choice.**

"Your anger started this!" Lewis roared. "You hated me! Even a second of that was enough!"

 **And you hold me to a thought I would never have acted on?** **A thought that opened a window for a demon I had no idea was there?**

Lewis took a step back, his hands lowering.

Arthur swallowed. **Lew, I know terrible stuff happened. But I know why it happened. I know why a lot of things happened. If we work together, like the old days, we can figure out all of it, and maybe save your sisters.**

The flames dimmed as Lewis' feet hit the ground. "You know why?" His voice echoed raggedly. "Just like that? I don't believe you."

**I do. Most of it. I need your confirmation. If you don't trust me, fine. But can you work with me long enough to save your family and bring down the Shiker? Nobody else should go through that, Lew.**

Lewis shuddered, the flames going out. "Somebody likely already is. He doesn't keep an empty compound."

 **Wait.** Arthur's eyes widened. **You remember the compound. You were turned loose. Do you remember where it is?**

Lewis stared dully at him. "Is this a joke? You have it marked on Vivi's phone as your destination. She's been driving straight for it all night."


	13. Memories and Frames

Hell couldn't possibly be any worse than this. Wrists clamped manacle-tight behind his back. Shackled by the neck to an iron ring in the concrete. A dark streak smeared down the center walk that ran past his stall, marking the trail of the last victim dragged through the stables.

The unbearable sound of Chloe whimpering.

He should have known their period of freedom was just that; a period. A short span of time meant to provide enough hope to crush them completely. Or, more accurately, crush him. Chloe didn't remember a thing, he'd seen to that himself.

But was that worse? Now she had no idea why she was where she was. Had the Shiker chained her like this too? He couldn't be harvesting this soon, she hadn't healed enough from the last time!

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. He lay on his side, staring across at the opposing stall. It was a luxurious space, padded with white velvet. The feed bin brimmed with forest moss and meadow grass gathered by the children. A nearby trough held clear brookwater. Two great beasts lay on lush pillows the size of mattresses, legs neatly folded beneath them. 23 and 22 hands high at the withers. Heads the size of barstools. Tails like whips, strong and thick. Hooves like anvils.

"And there you sit," Duet sneered, "Milky white clods with nothing to move you. Why don't you save her?" He strained forward, the shackle cutting into his neck. "Do something! Get up!"

One dipped its bandaged head to the feed trough, chewing mindlessly. Anger rolled through his body. He rolled up to his knees, straining forward. The words of a chant filled his mouth, coiled on the tip of his tongue. He could move them. He could call them to their feet and send them pounding down the hall. He could make them tear this place to bits.

The burning in his chest shuddered, flickering, and he swallowed the words. And then what? If that failed and he spent the last of their lives, then who would save her? He had already lost three…

He slumped back to the concrete, drawing his knees to his chest. There was no escape, only temporary relief from despair, and that time was done.

"Welcome back."

Duet lay still as a pair of worn tennis shoes scuffled into view. He didn't want to see the face. The face was always different, depending on what wretch the Shiker claimed as his newest puppet, but the monster never changed.

"Enjoy your little lunge?" He chuckled. "Perhaps I'll let you out on the lead line again in a few years. This venture has proved useful. If I'd known immortal threads wind themselves together, I'd have sent you out sooner. You have my gratitude, the kitsune is on his way." The sneakers followed the dark smear out of sight. "I'll make sure to have the children add flowers to the feed troughs as a reward for all your hard work."

Duet's fingernails drove into his palms, blood pounding in his ears. If the gods could see them now, nothing in a ten mile radius would be left alive. The land would be scorched and salted barren. But he'd had no leads on paths back to the other realm, and no kitsune would help. Not with the soul of a pack member or littermate locked to his neck.

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. Chloe was crying from some stall out of sight. Was her stall as comfortable as the one across from him? He hoped, at least, for that much. If the monster would harvest from her, the least he could do was-

"Duet…"

Oh gods. She was calling for him, and he couldn't go to her.

"Duet… I can't find my legs… Duet where are my legs?"

He clamped his lower lip between his teeth, his eyes stinging.

Her voice pitched high with panic. "What happened to my legs? Duet! Where are you?"

Sneakers scuffled back up the hall, and Duet lunged against the chain, rattling it as he thrashed at the very end. The new puppet had a long, white labcoat and slicked-back gray hair. He flashed a wry grin at Duet, running his tongue along his teeth as he passed. "Save your strength. Don't want to leave two more corpses and an orphaned foal, now, do you?"

He passed out of sight, and a few seconds later Chloe began to scream.

No. Hell could not be worse than this.

….

Arthur nearly tore the handle off the van climbing back inside. Mystery was leaning against the opposing passenger door with Vivi propped up against him. His hands rested lightly over the burns on her arms, and he whispered in her ear. White puffs of breath escaped his mouth as he chanted, and Arthur realized the van temperature had dropped. He snapped his fingers at Mystery, drawing his attention.

**How is she? I have questions! I need her answer!**

"I'm doing what I can, but I'm no healer," Mystery muttered. "All I can do is ease the pain some and lower the temperature. And the first with painkillers."

"Remind me to restock the kit," Vivi murmured.

Arthur scooted in, signing in front of her face. **Where are you driving us?**

Vivi gestured vaguely for the front, and Arthur plucked her phone from its holder, studying the map.

His stomach skittered up toward his throat and his fingers fixed vise-like on the phone.

"Arthur, you stopped breathing." Mystery eyed him with concern.

He was vaguely aware of his mouth opening and closing over and over. The map vanished as the screen went dark, replaced by a little green call icon and the words "Blocked Number."

Vivi muttered under her breath, grabbing the phone. "Leggo, Squire." She wiggled it free of his grip, leaving him staring at frozen fingers. "What? Calling me? Hello, this is Vivi."

Arthur's head jerked up at the sound of a frightened sob. Someone was blubbering on the other end of the phone. Whoever it was, Vivi's face had drained of color.

"What's going on? Who has you?" she demanded. The blubbering escalated to a garbled wail of words Arthur couldn't make out, before abruptly cutting off.

Vivi brought the phone down from her ear to stare at it. "This number… this is… she…" She pushed a few buttons. "She's the one."

Arthur tapped her knee, screwing up his face in confusion.

"Chloe! She's the one that's been tipping me off! This is the blocked number!" Vivi clutched the phone like it was a lifeline. "She's been tipping me off about Tome Tomb, telling me to check them out, she's been asking for help and I…" Lurching for the front seat, she flopped into it, fumbling for the buckle.

Arthur grabbed the seatbelt, yanking it hard and releasing it. She wasn't driving one more mile, not if he could help it. He reached for the keys.

She scratched his hand, growling, "If you're gonna be in my way, get outta the van!"

 **You're not-** Arthur grunted as she turned away from him, twisting the key in the ignition. She wasn't looking at him! He grabbed at the keys again. Vivi twisted around, biting his arm. He yanked it back with a yelp.

"Arthur, you weren't planning to go there?" Now Lewis was crowding in. "You didn't know?"

He shook his head hard.

"Do you _have_ a plan?"

 **Not for this!** Arthur signed emphatically. **We were tracking Duet to a city, not the cave!**

The van sputtered, revving uncertainly to life. "I have a plan," Vivi muttered. "We're getting Choe and getting clear. That's the plan. No more detours."

Lewis reached for the keys. "Not today."

"Redire ad sepulchrum adductum mortuum hominem!" Vivi hissed.

A loud crack echoed in the van, and Lewis doubled over, his outline guttering like a candle in a draft.

Arthur grabbed at him. _No!_ His hands passed through Lewis as he faded, a small lump of metal thumping to the ground. Vivi snatched it, hurling it out the van window. "And don't come back!"

He didn't think. He dove out of the van, tearing around the back end and off to the side of the road. He could hear the van peeling out behind him, but he didn't turn around.

 _No! I just found you!_ He dove into the brush at the side of the road, yanking back thorny vines and squinting in the dark. Fishing his phone out, he clicked on the flashlight feature, scanning the ground all around his feet.

 _Not now. There's a shot. You were listening for a minute. You're still there, there's still some of the Lewis I knew that's left._ He raked through the dirt with his fingers, watching for any reflective glint. _I'll have your back. I don't care if you don't believe me. I'll fix it. I'll make it better. I won't get angry, I swear._ His fingers were shaking. _It'll be different! We can take this sucker down as a team as long as I… I just have to…_ He swiped at his face. _Keep it together…_

A soft chirp drew his attention a few feet up. A little pink blob eyed him warily, curled around something that glinted in the flashlight's glare. He sprinted for it, the Deadbeat vanishing with an undignified squawk as Arthur scooped up the piece of metal.

He knew this. The locket. Lewis had saved for months to get this for Vivi when they started dating. He'd given it to Vivi the day he asked her to be his girlfriend.

Arthur choked out a laugh. _Of course this is your anchor, you big old softie._

His laugh slid into a sob as he hunched over the locket. _I didn't even get to go to your funeral._

Two cracks fractured the front cover of the locket. Arthur ran a thumb over them, carefully. He could fix it if he had his soldering guns. It was silver, not that hard to repair, but he was hours from his workshop and Vivi-

Vivi was speeding straight to the cave. The cave with Lewis' compound in it. She was going to run facefirst into the Shiker with no plan.

With Kay in the back!

Arthur sprang to his feet, shoving the locket into his vest pocket. He switched on Maps and tapped in the last location he ever wanted to visit again. It was only a couple miles down the road. Vivi might be low on gas, but she probably had enough to make it there, if Mystery hadn't stopped her already. If he hadn't, Arthur had to get there fast.

_Wake up fast, Lew. I don't have a plan, and Vivi doesn't know what she's headed for!_


	14. So I Would Do It For You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning. Implications of serious abuse in this chapter.

_It's not possible for me to catch a moving van before she gets to the cave,_ Arthur reasoned with himself, though his legs kept pumping. _There's no plan, there's no shared information, we're not even a team right now. Shiker's going to get everything he wants and kill off everyone he doesn't need anymore._ Still he kept running. _Vivi, you screwed up big this time._

He counted road stripes as he passed to keep his mind off the fact that he was running toward certain death. It didn't matter. There had to be something he could do, even if he couldn't think of it right now. It would come to him when he needed it, right?

He slammed into a solid black wall, rebounding off and onto his back, groaning at the impact. Lewis' back towered over him, flickering in and out of sight, the edges of his form crawling with flamelets. He hovered in place, his back firmly to Arthur, staring down the road after the van's rapidly fading backlights.

_Oh gods, Vivi hurt him… He wouldn't!_

Arthur lunged forward, grabbing Lewis' sleeve with both hands. The words were lodged in his throat, and Lewis jerked his arm to shake Arthur off. He had to get it out! He shut his eyes, bracing for the worst as he shoved his defense out all smashed together. "Shedoesn'tknowyou!"

_I tell Harvey he has been a good boy. Lewis is very weak now. Harvey knows I do to the broken ones, yes? I tell Harvey that Lewis just needs a little extra push. Remember the room he cleaned up last month? Remember Suzy, and what it took to break her. I know Harvey watched through a knothole. Sneaky little spy, but it will help. Now he has a few ideas, and there's plenty of tools in that room too._

"Arthur."

_Break Lewis, I say. Break him until he doesn't know who he is anymore. Only then will Harvey be freed._

"What did you just say?"

_The night is full of Lewis' screams and sobs. I watch from the rafters, unseen as I wish to be. I watch as Harvey hardens Lewis to unbreaking, and in so breaks himself. By dawn, Lewis knows exactly who he is, and Harvey will never know again. Harvey is ready to be harvested._

_"Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly. Come to me, puppet."_

Arthur's head cracked hard to the right. He blinked, tasting copper. The side of his face felt like someone had run an iron over it or used one to smack him silly. Ah, and Lewis was glaring down at him.

Arthur rotated his jaw. At least it wasn't broken. All things considered, a left hook from Lewis wasn't a terrible price to pay for snapping out of-he doubled over, convulsing with dry heaves.

A massive hand gripped his jaw, searing his face with bursts of flash-fire heat as Lewis flickered in and out of solid state. "You said his name again just now. Vivi told me about your little visions. What did you see?"

Arthur couldn't focus. His stomach clawed at his throat over the things he'd seen. As if Lewis getting drowned, burned, and beaten wasn't bad enough, this… and at the hands of a friend...

"Don't make that face." Lewis' voice crackled like a bad speaker. "I don't want your pity. I survived. I didn't lose to the Shiker. I didn't need that traitor to get free, and I don't need you! What did you see?"

Arthur stared up at the raging skull, too lost to even sign. _What am I supposed to say? I'm sorry you were put through a gamut of things no child should have to think about, much less live through? I'm sorry the only other kid who seemed trustworthy there hurt you? I'm sorry, I get why 'the Shiker made me do it' doesn't hold up in your mind?_

Slowly, Arthur lifted his hands. **I'm sorry the Shiker got to him before I did.**

Lewis shoved him backwards, wiping his hands on the suit. "Yeah. Sure you are. That's why you're running straight for the compound with my anchor."

Vivi. Arthur leaped to his feet, wobbling as his vision spun, his hands moving at the speed of his thoughts. **Vivi Lewis Vivi didn't mean she's driving to we have to stop we can't just let her and Kay-**

Lewis swatted Arthur's hands out of the way. "I can't save Vivi. Do you understand, Arthur? You're right. She doesn't know me. She won't listen to me, especially if she's swung, and there's all the signs she's in shock _and_ in a swing. And she's obviously done listening to you if you're here on the road." He paused, eyes widening. "With. My. Anchor. You…"

Arthur nodded.

Lewis straightened his shoulders. "It doesn't matter. Neither of us can stop them, especially if Vivi talks Kay into joining her, which she's probably already done. And this?" He looked down at his hands, fading in and out of sight. "She did serious damage to my anchor. I'd expect no less. There's nothing we can do."

Arthur ground his teeth. **So that's it. You're just giving up?**

"What exactly do you want from me?" Lewis growled. "To waltz into hell after the woman who doesn't remember or care, and the sister who went behind my back? Oh, let's not forget, all this with the best friend who pushed me to my death."

Staring hard at him, Arthur signed, **You're really going to let Vivi walk into that? Let her be a victim to this thing?**

Lewis' skull swiveled slowly back in the direction of the now van-less road. Crickets sang up and down the stretch of asphalt, filing the silence with an eerie symphony. "Do you understand what you're asking me?" Arthur was no longer sure the crackling in his voice was just damage to the anchor. "Where we're going back, and what's going to happen to me there?"

Shutting his eyes for a minute, Arthur allowed the situation to sink in. Facing the Shiker had no successful outcome that he could see. Lewis would be drained to a shell of himself, and Arthur… gods knew what the Shiker would do to him. On the other hand, running would strand Kay and Vivi, who would die or live out a fate worse than death. Mystery's soul would be harvested and corrupted, used in some curse or another down the line. The Shiker would catch up to Lewis eventually, tying off that loose end. Aji and Dulcie would fall victim to their curses, leaving Arthur dead and the Peppers effectively childless.

He snapped again for Lewis' attention. **Yeah. I know. But if I have to die, I'm going to give my bullheaded friend and girlfriend their best shot at escape. Maybe we can even get Mystery an opening. Come on, Lew. For Vivi.** _And Kay,_ he thought, but kept that bit to himself. He stuck his hand out, hoping Lewis wouldn't rip it off.

Lewis stared down at the hand, his hair pulling back into a solid, glowing mass. Lifting his face, he walked past Arthur, bumping him hard enough to send him sprawling again.

Arthur grunted in frustration. Fine. He didn't need Lewis. He'd go by himself if he had to.

"Get in."

Blinking, Arthur lifted his head to see a now-familiar mansion sagging across the road, the front door hanging open.

"You won't get there in time. Get inside." Lewis mounted the steps, his shoulders sagging as he muttered, "Into the jaws of the hellhound we go."

….

"Vivi, this has gone beyond anger! You need to pull over now! We can't just rush in without a plan."

Red tinged the edge of Vivi's vision as her foot lay like lead on the pedal. Mystery was a coward, pure and simple. He didn't care about Chloe, he only cared about saving himself. That was perfectly clear. "If you're not with me, get out of the van."

"I mean it, Vivi! Pull over or turn around! This is your last warning!"

"Or what?" Vivi snapped. "You'll transform in the van? Rip my arm off? Don't get in my way, Mystery."

Mystery grabbed her arm, and Vivi swerved hard. "Get your hands off me! Get out of my van, you backflipping soda puddle!"

"I can't let you go any further!" Mystery clung to her seat, feet scrabbling for a foothold to brace against.

"Ungh! Who's driving?" Vivi could just see Kay rearing her head over the back headrest, clutching it for dear life. "Vivi? Where's Arthur? What's going on?"

"Kay!" Vivi shouted. "I need your help! How big a swing do you want to take at that demon? The one that killed Lewis?" She jerked the wheel in the other direction, the van squealing in protest. Mystery slammed against the back driver-side door, grunting. "Everything started falling apart after that, didn't it? Everything!"

"What… Vivi, where's Arthur?" Kay pleaded, trying to hold on.

"Vivi, stop!" Mystery growled, turning his head. "Kay, she doesn't know what she's saying. The Shiker is too strong for you!"

"The two of us can take him, Kay! Get up! Mystery's going to stop me, I need you to hold him!"

"You can't be serious!"

"Kay, if you give a half-hammed bandersnatch about Arthur, I need you to pin Mystery down! We're going to stop the Shiker from ever hurting him again!"

Behind her, Mystery growled, "Cayenne, you don't understand! Let go, I don't want to hurt you!" Something large rolled, hitting the opposite door with a solid thunk.

"Vivi," Kay wheezed, "Hurry."

Slamming on the brakes, Vivi threw the van into park and twisted around. Kay had Mystery in a headlock, but he was crushing her against the passenger door. Unbuckling, Vivi crawled into the back, planting her hands on Mystery's chest. "Dormiam gratum mortuis."

Immediately, Mystery's eyelids drooped, and Kay rolled around to ease the pressure, still keeping her grip.

"Vivi, don't," Mystery mumbled, grabbing her wrists. "You don't know…"

"I do know. I'm going to destroy the root of all my problems and save Chloe." She straightened. "Somnum altum et sine somniis."

Mystery's eyes shut, and his hands fell of Vivi's wrists. Kay released him, pulling herself out from behind him. "What did you do?"

"Sleeping spell." Vivi slid the side door open and dragged Mystery out. "Was going to use it on myself if I started having problems with insomnia again."

"Again?" Kay asked. "Are you… have you not been taking…"

"No, I haven't been taking my meds." Vivi huffed, laying Mystery far enough from the edge of the road that he wouldn't get hit. "Yeah, that comes with consequences. No, I don't care right now. Y'know what I do care about right now?"

"Finding Chloe," Kay murmured. "You made that very clear."

"Well, are you with me?" Vivi demanded, hopping back into the van. " 'Cause if you're not, you can stay and keep an eye on Mystery. Arthur's just down the road, hunting for some rusty old locket. He'll catch up, but I'm going. I'm done waiting."

Kay glanced back down the road for a moment, before sliding the side door shut. "I'm coming. For Lewis. For Arthur."

"That's the spirit." Vivi climbed back into the front seat, and Kay took the passenger seat. "Buckle up, we're almost there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to admin of the Rise and Fall of Nickelodian facebook page for brainstorming help.


	15. Right Before We Crash

Mr. Pepper stood in the doorway of the kitchen, trembling with the effort to leave. She hadn't said he couldn't leave the room, he reasoned, trying to make his feet move. She just said he couldn't leave. That could mean the house. That could mean the city. That could mean the state, she hadn't been very specific.

But he knew. He was meant to stay in sight, as was Dulcie. Dulcie sat at the dining table, staring at the same two pages she'd started reading an hour ago. Her eyes kept lifting over the tops of the pages for a couple seconds at a time, glancing at her mother or himself.

Teles gripped the hard plastic of their house phone, punching the same ten buttons she'd been pressing since he returned home without Kay. She would ring the number, pause for fifteen seconds, then hang up the phone. Exactly thirty seconds would pass, with Teles staring at the phone, before she scooped up the receiver and dialed again.

He had to take Dulcie and go. Something was wrong with Teles, and the safety of his youngest was first priority now. He had to find some loophole and an opportunity to take Dulcie and run. He hadn't seen Teles this bad since she'd told him she was pregnant with their third daughter, and there was no telling what she would do.

Her fingertips trembled with every redial. Her head jerked whenever Kay's voice chirped through the receiver, her eyes lighting up for a split second until the voice carried on without pause through Kay's voicemail.

Finally, Mr. Pepper shuffled forward, removing the receiver from her hand. "Teles, please. She's not picking up. She doesn't want to."

"You should have made her come." She stared at her empty hand. "You should have found some way."

"I can't make Kay do anything she doesn't want to." He eased into the chair next to her. "You know that. She told me to leave without her."

"We have to get Aji." Mrs. Pepper reached for the empty phone cradle, grabbing for what was no longer there. "We have to bring her here. We can take out a loan, make bail. Have they set bail?"

"It's only the first day, Teles. There hasn't been a court date yet."

"We'll sell the restaurant. Pay them whatever they want. We have to get them all together and leave, now. Maybe we can have a few more years."

"Teles."

"I'm not crazy. I know what I'm talking about. You bring Aji home, and I'll get Kay myself." She rose to her feet. "We'll take the next flight out of the state. Country. Let's move. Russia is large, right? Or India. She can't find them there."

"Teles."

Her knees gave out, sending her collapsing back into the chair. "No. No, it's no good. It never is. Nothing stops it. Nothing will ever… oh gods, Timothy… Timothy!"

He leaned forward, grabbing at her wrist as she clawed at her arms. "What is it? Teles, what's the matter?"

"It's blooming," she sobbed. "Another one's blooming, oh gods, Kay!"

He had to get Dulcie out and somewhere safe. Then, he promised himself, he would come back for Teles. He just needed an opportunity.

…...

Arthur wobbled across the threshold, grabbing the wall for support. The door slammed shut with a gunshot-like report, and Arthur leaped forward, shivering.

_Keep it together. Lewis isn't going to roast you. He promised Vivi. This time's different._

Lewis strode to the center of the foyer, standing at the foot of the staircase. Stretching his arms out like a conductor, he snapped his wrists around, swiveling them in a series of short, simple motions Arthur didn't recognize.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he crept around into Lewis' field of vision, signing, **What's that you're doing?**

"Moving the mansion," Lewis responded.

**Don't feel anything moving.**

"You won't. It doesn't work like that."

**When will we get there?**

"Any second."

Arthur bit his lip. **Lewis if I don't make it and you do, you have to ask Vivi about the curse.**

"Whatever, Arthur."

**I mean it. Maybe you can figure out a way to help where I can't.**

"If anyone's making it out of this, it's you." Lewis' eyesockets narrowed. "You're remarkably good at saving your own skin."

Old frustration simmered in Arthur's gut, but he pushed it down. There wasn't time. Lewis' hands dropped to his sides and his head bowed. "We're here."

He stood there for a moment, his skull sinking slowly into his neck. Arthur reached toward him, but Lewis snapped around, marching toward the door.

The simmer deepened, but Arthur swallowed it down. This was no place for anger, he would not make the same mistake twice. He followed Lewis out the door, faceplanting into his back for the second time that night.

Lewis shifted, his shoulders rising. "I specifically aimed to land inside, not outside. Something's not right."

Glancing to the side, Arthur spotted the van parked at the mouth of a familiar looking rock formation. The cave opening yawned tall and wide, opening into a greenish passageway Arthur was all too familiar with.

_"Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly."_

Arthur's eyes rolled as fear flashed through him. He'd heard this before. Moments before, in fact. It wasn't a memory. The Shiker had spoken directly to his mind.

And with that, it clicked into place. He'd gone about the memory fragments all wrong. They weren't fragments that the Shiker had left behind. He was _connected_ to the Shiker, whether intentional or not, and had been digging straight into the Shiker's mind. No, it had to be an unintentional link; the Shiker hadn't attempted to possess Arthur until he actively went digging for more memories, alerting the demon to his presence. It made sense, the Shiker hadn't needed to be present for possession when there was already a link established to flow through.

Arthur grabbed Lewis' arm for his attention, signing, **He knows, he's in my head!**

Lewis rounded on him, his eyes smoldering. "He can see me? Can hear what I'm saying?"

Arthur took a step back, swallowing. **I think so.**

"Then tell him… tell him…" Lewis' eyes dimmed. "It doesn't matter, does it?" He turned aside. "He knows we're here, he blocked out my mansion. He's waiting for me."

Shutting his eyes on Lewis' despair, Arthur signed, articulating the words in his mind. **We're coming for you.**

Derisive laughter echoed off the inside of his head, and he gritted his teeth, storming past Lewis, past the wooden warning sign, and into the gaping jaws of the cave.

 _You can't use me. I know what you are, I know how you work,_ Arthur flung his thoughts at the demon. _My name is Arthur Kingsmen. I am a mechanic. I'm a friend. I'm in love with a siren. I'm a paranormal investigator._

The laughter stopped, but the sense of smug glee only grew. _"The walking dead displays such hubris. You are fascinating, Arthur Kingsmen. I may have to keep you for a time."_

Arthur shuddered, gripping his left shoulder.

"What did he say?" Lewis demanded from behind.

 **I prefer your fate,** Arthur signed shortly. **He wants a new toy.** Images of Lewis' childhood swam through his mind. He was no child to be drained, but he'd already been used to carry out the Shiker's twisted plot once. He could be used to break others.

He turned to Lewis, stopping the ghost in his tracks. **You make sure I'm good and dead before he takes me away. I don't care how. Or I really will be the next Harvey.**

Lewis prickled at the mention of Harvey, jerking his head once. "That won't be a problem."

Arthur's stomach soured further at Lewis' instant response. _It doesn't matter,_ he reminded himself. _I don't have to convince Lewis of anything anymore. I just have to get Vivi and Kay a window to escape. That's it._

 _If Vivi will even bother to take it. This whole thing is a disaster._ He came to a stop at the fork in the tunnel, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground. Tilting his head, he strained to catch any sounds. He prayed they would be coming from the lower tunnel.

 _Up._ His body was moving before his brain registered the sound that drove him along the same path he'd taken only a couple months before. He surrendered control as a fierce melody pulled him up the incline. He was going to find her. Kay was calling. Singing.

Screaming in rage.

He crumpled to the ground, limbs like jelly. Was she angry with him? Why was she singing like that? Swords were slicing through his brain. He couldn't think.

Something large clapped over his ears, and blissful silence smoothed out his thoughts.

_Kay. Song. Weapon song. Shiker!_

He staggered to his feet, the tips of Lewis' fingers at the edge of his vision. He didn't stop to ask, he just ran.

Up ahead, he could just make out the dingy green glow at the end of the tunnel, with a speck of blue in the middle. As he got closer, he could see Vivi standing dead-center on the ledge, fists clenched, facing squarely into the grinning maw of-

Arthur's knees shook as he came to a standstill behind Vivi. He had never seen the Shiker in his visions, but of course he wouldn't have. The Shiker couldn't see himself, could he? A leering bat-like skull the size of a Volkswagen Beetle hung just beyond the ledge, a single green orb rolling back and forth between its empty eye-sockets. Torn wings stretched across the cavern, balancing a lengthy skeletal body crouched among the stalagmites. A flash of gold plummeted from the ceiling, crashing into tire-sized vertebrate with all the effect of a housefly beating itself against a windowpane. The orb shifted into the right socket, staring past Vivi and straight at Arthur.

_"Welcome to my parlor, Puppet. So good to see you face to face."_

…...

_"Hey, Lew? What do you think of Vivi's idea?"_

_"Which one, the one where we start an electro-symphonic band and become rockstars, or the one where she drinks coffee until she can walk up walls?"_

_"Very funny. The serious one."_

_"Ghost hunting? I mean, it's kinda out there, but we've seen some weird stuff at the edge of town so it's real. Vivi's pretty set on doing something about it, and I'm not gonna sit on the sidelines. Someone has to watch out for her."_

_"Yeah, and someone has to watch out for you. I'm game for this whole thing, but I gotta ask, Lew, what happens if we get in over our heads? I mean, we're just beginners. What if we screw with something nobody banked on?"_

_"Arthur, you really think we're gonna run into anything that big in this place? We're not even a major city, c'mon. Besides, between Vivi's casting and your brains, I can't think of anything we couldn't take down together."_

_"But Lewis-"_

_"If we get in over our heads, we just pull together and ride it out."_

_"No, Lew, you're not hearing me. There's crazy stuff out there. Demons, ghouls, all kinds of monsters. What if-"_

_"Arthur, would you quit worrying? Any one of us would take a bullet for the other, and that's the key, because we won't ever let it get to that point. I don't know about you, but I feel pretty safe with you and Vee watching out for me. What about you?"_

_"Yeah… I guess."_

_"Wow, Arthur. Your excitement is underwhelming. What gives? You don't think we could pull it off?"_

_"There's just too many variables to say for sure. I mean, how am I supposed to know? How do_ you _know we'd make it?"_

_"I just do. I trust you two. I know you'll never let me down."_


	16. Broken by Design

Lewis' hands dropped away from Arthur's ears as Kay slid off the Shiker's spine, her voice little more than a winded cry as she spread her wings to avoid the stalagmites.

"-omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica!" Vivi shouted, hoarse and cracking. How long had she been exorcising? "In nomini et virtute Domini nostri-" She coughed, reaching into her pocket to clutch something.

 _"Isn't it funny, Puppet?"_ The Shiker's jaws moved, his voice setting rubble raining from the ceiling. _"Isn't it funny, she thought it would be easy. One little phone call for help and her whole brain stops working. I'm surprised she had the sense left to magick her ears against the siren."_

"Shut up!" Vivi screamed. "I know what I'm doing!"

_"Watch this, Puppet, I can even say it and she doesn't understand. I left Chloe's chains loose enough to reach the phone I allowed her to keep. There, it's a trap, what do you say now?"_

"I say we're walking out of here with Chloe!" Vivi picked up a rock and hurled it at the green orb. The Shiker's jaws slid sideways with laughter, the orb dropping to his throat. Vivi turned on her heel, her glasses askew and a dark look in her eye. "Squire, I need you to-YOU. What are you doing here?" She pointed past Arthur. "I told you to never come back!"

But a quick glance confirmed that Lewis wasn't even looking at Vivi. He stood, frozen, staring up at the beast that ruled his every breath for gods-knew how many years of his childhood. The locket in Arthur's pocket pulsed frantically.

Kay rose out of the fog that swirled around the cave floor, beating her wings as she struggled to the top of the cave.

 _"Would you be upset if I plucked her, Puppet?"_ TheShiker's jaw cracked loudly as it shifted the hinge joint. _"I have all their feathers, her mother's and her aunts' feathers, all in a little glass jar. Pretty red and brown and black feathers, should I add gold?"_

Arthur jammed his elbow into Lewis' side. The Shiker was focused on him, Arthur. If there was a time to run with Vivi, this would be it.

_"Your determination is amusing, you keep thinking you can change things."_

Arthur frowned. The Shiker was connected to his thoughts, and knew why he and Lewis were there. Still, the demon hadn't made a move since they'd arrived. He hadn't attacked or tried to take Lewis like they thought, and he hadn't made a move on Arthur.

_"Hmmm, so interesting. Why wouldn't I be ready to make good on either of the things I want, Puppet?"_

Ready. He wasn't ready. Something hadn't happened yet-

"Get your hands off me!" Vivi shrieked, drawing Arthur's attention. Lewis had scooped her into his arms, but she was struggling. "You're not a hero! I don't want you, I don't need you! I don't even know who you are!"

Arthur's spine went ramrod straight. He opened his mouth, he had to warn her!

 _"Silence, Puppet."_ And Arthur's mouth shut. His hands gestured uselessly. She had kicked Lewis' skull clean off his suit and finally gotten free, she wasn't looking at Arthur.

"You think you could ever have been close to me?" she snarled as he fumbled for his skull. "I could never love someone like you! You're not what everyone said you were!"

Arthur's gestures became wilder and more frantic, but his feet would not move. He glanced down to see fog winding around his ankles.

"They said you were kind and loyal and a loving person!" She advanced on Lewis, backing him toward the ledge. "They were wrong! They were talking about Lewis Pepper, and Lewis Pepper is dead. You?" She sucked in a deep breath, shouting, "Who are you?"

Lewis' eyes were hollow, his shoulders stooped and his knees bent under the weight of the question.

And then the Shiker moved, casually closing his talons around Lewis and pinning him to the ground. _"That's a marvelous question, Vivi. Who are you, child?"_ The Shiker lowered his jaws next to Lewis' skull. _"What is your name?"_

Lewis' hands balled into fists, his outline flickering in and out of sight.

_"What is your name?"_

A low sob escaped Lewis, and the bones gave way to flesh, the suit dissolving into crusted rags, the flames fading into a mop of scruffy, matted brown hair. The Shiker's claws tightened to accommodate the shrunken ghost, and he whispered again, _"Child, what is your name?"_

Arthur's mind reeled. Any second, the Shiker was going to harvest Lewis, who had no idea who he was. The question hadn't had to come from him, it had come from the one Lewis had relied on most for his identity.

A surge of anger blew past his defenses. _Vivi, you ruined everything._

The Shiker's eyes flicked to him for a moment, before focusing back on Lewis.

Arthur seized on that. He didn't think any further. He couldn't, the Shiker would hear any plan he came up with. He filled his lungs with air and bellowed, "You ruined _everything_ , Vivi!"

With those words the link flooded open. He could see the Shiker, and he could see himself through the Shiker's eyes. He could see his own face filling with the realization of his anger and _gods_ he wanted some of that. The last time he had taken this Puppet it had been marvelous, a fine wine of resentment and anger that had provided him with hours of intoxicated bliss. And this, this looked to be a deeper rage that had been simmering for quite some time. But first, to attend to the child-soul he had in his grasp-

Arthur shook himself, wrenching his attention to Vivi. "You couldn't just wait!" he shouted. "You never listen! Shiker's right, one phone call and you go crazy! Oh, I'm Vivi and I'm Bipolar so I don't have to sit and listen and figure out a plan of action! Screw that, I have magic so I'm gonna charge facefirst into danger and of course it'll all work out!"

Vivi's lips parted in shock, but he continued.

"Yeah, Vivi, because it's all about you! It's all about you and your missing memory and your inability to save Chloe! It's not like you have friends you're dragging into danger! It's not like you need input from other people when you know you're not thinking straight! Hell, it's not like you care enough to make an informed decision, you're Vivi! You can't think your way out of a paper bag when you're swung, but somehow you're going to save everyone!"

He could see himself squarely from the Shiker's view, and Lewis was hardly a thought. The Puppet's face was twisted in a terrible way, flushed a deep crimson with veins standing out on his forehead. Something flapped around his head, but he waved at it, slapping it away.

Arthur watched the Shiker slap Kay out of the air. She hit the wall, sliding down to sprawl on the ledge behind Vivi. The Shiker wasn't holding Lewis anymore, focusing only on him. But Arthur had nothing more to say to Vivi, so he turned to Lewis.

"And you! You didn't think for one second that maybe, just maybe, none of this was what I wanted! But why am I wasting my breath? I'm just some murderer whose only purpose in your life was building you up so I could kill you, right? That's why we teamed up against bullies in school, that's why we hung out all the time, that's why we stayed best friends all through high school. It's because I wanted to kill you! Yeah, makes perfect sense, Lew. And now look where we are! Because you and your stupid secrets you wanted to take to the grave took _you_ to the grave, now we're all going to die!"

The Shiker was moving again, and Arthur knew what was going to happen, but he kept shouting at Lewis. It was all he had left to do. Kay was pulling herself to her feet, but Arthur couldn't say anything to her. _There's never enough time._

"Congratulations, Lewis Pepper! You and Vivi really are perfect for each other, two bull-headed idiots charging into a situation without any idea what's really going on. And why's that? Because one of you won't talk about it, and one of you won't listen. Scratch that, neither of you listens. You deserve each other. You know what? Here's a little secret for you. Are you listening to me yet?"

The grip on his feet loosened and he could only see from one direction now. Coldness pierced his right arm, traveling up to his shoulder and spreading through his chest. The Shiker was no longer visible, but he could feel a familiar presence taking command. He shut his eyes. If his anger was what kept the Shiker with him, and not looming over Lewis…

"It's YOU I hate the most!" he spat.

His mouth was no longer his own. Neither was the rest of his body. He stumbled back, covering his face with his hands as he laughed. The rage was glorious, he hadn't drunk like this in eons.

"Kay!" The remains of Lewis were shouting something. "Get back!"

Arthur dropped his hands to see the firstborn daughter running for him, arms outstretched. Foolish child. The vines around her head already swelled, near to bursting in bloom. It would only take the smallest push.

And he had promised her a personal touch, hadn't he?

"Arthur!" She was in hysterics, grabbing his arms.

And such an opportunity. When would he have a chance like this again? He took her face in his hands. "Arthur is gone," he whispered, and wrapped his mouth over hers. Inhaling slowly, he drew song from her throat, unraveling it like a thread from her vocal cords and winding it around his own voice. She shoved at his chest, clawing his shoulders as she sensed the theft, but he was no longer the weak and vulnerable Arthur.

Lewis ripped Kay from his hands, all bone and fire once again, seizing him by the neck and slamming him against the wall. Arthur's lips curled in a smile. This was a good day. Intoxication like this was hard to come by, and he was often too busy tending his garden to indulge. Ahhh, Lewis.

He opened his mouth, his new voice richer, deeper than it ever had been before, vibrating with the power of stolen song. "Hello again, did you miss me?"

Behind Lewis, the buds along the firstborn's vines opened as glorious scarlet flowers.


	17. Within You

_This isn't how it's supposed to go,_ Vivi thought, her fingers locked onto the little gray box in her pocket. She was supposed to be sailing out of here with Chloe in tow by now, wasn't she? Squire would be mad, of course, but it wouldn't matter because she was right and had done the right thing. Mystery would be furious, but he'd forgive her when she came back safe and sound. Whoever the skeleghost thought he was, he would fade away when he realized he wasn't needed. Everything would go back to normal.

But Squire wasn't Squire, his eyes were green and he was laughing at the skeleghost that had him by the throat, like he wasn't in any danger at all. Kay lay in a heap of feathers where she'd fallen back from Squire, slicing at her lips with frantic talons. Chloe was still nowhere to be found, and Mystery was… gods, had she put Mystery in danger too?

She'd put all of them in danger. Squire's words sank in hard and deep. It was true. She'd known it, but she hadn't wanted to think about… she'd just wanted to… but now…

And the Shiker was still laughing at them as the flames on Lewis' skull climbed higher. "It's funny, really, how much he really believed he could outthink me! He had all these plans and theories, it's pathetic. I've never had a Puppet this determined to put me away." He gasped as Lewis' grip on his throat tightened, the corners of his mouth turning up harder. "Well, perhaps I can finish business with you first."

"Exorcise him."

Vivi's eyes flicked to Lewis, still staring the Shiker in the eyes. "Exorcise him, Vivi," he repeated.

"It didn't work," Vivi croaked, swallowing. "I've been doing it since I got here, he didn't… he didn't even budge, it's like he's not…" her eyes widened. "Not a demon."

Arthur's head tilted at a grotesque angle as the Shiker howled. "You truly came here with _nothing_ and hoped to defeat me, oh, this is fantastic entertainment. You don't even know what I am!"

Lewis' skull turned to Vivi in disbelief. "Not a demon?" he demanded. "Then what?"

"I-I don't know," she stammered.

"Sssssquire knows," The Shiker ran a tongue along his teeth, "But he's long gone. Good job, Vivi. Good job, Lewis. Fantastic work, Cayenne Pepper."

Kay's head snapped up at the mention of her name, her eyes unfocused and drifting. Blood ran from her lips.

"What's it like?" The Shiker purred, "To know your-gaaak!" He grimaced, raising a hand to Lewis' arm and tugging.

"You can't fix this?" Lewis demanded.

"Not… without knowing what it is…"

Lewis reached into Arthur's vest, yanking something out of it, and hurled him to the ground. "Kay, call him back to himself."

Kay tilted her head, lifting her talons to groom her feathers, absently.

"Kay! I've seen you do this. Use that cursed voice and fix this."

"Oh, I'm sorry." The Shiker pulled himself up to a sitting position, grinning. "Did you mean this voice?" With that, he opened his mouth. There was no mistaking Arthur's voice, but it was rounder and deeper than it had ever been, with a vibrato that defied the choking he'd just endured.

Kay's hands flew to her ears. Scrambling to her feet, she staggered toward the tunnel. Vivi seized her arm. "Kay, you can't, we need-"

Kay turned on her with an inhuman screech, talons flashing, red drops spraying from her mouth. Vivi stumbled back, her forearms bleeding.

"Vivi!"

Vivi knew why Lewis screamed the moment her foot failed to hit solid ground. Everything slowed as she tilted back, one hand still wrapped around her talisman. It wouldn't save her from a fall at this height, but it was all she had to hold onto. The ledge came into clearer view as she gained distance from it. Kay reached the tunnel and vanished into it. Squire had pulled himself to his feet, dusting himself off. Lewis…

Lewis was facing her. Falling just above her. Arms stretched to grab her. _It's too late_ , she wanted to say. _You can't do anything now._ And for just a moment, she felt sorry she'd tried to send him back to the grave. He obviously wasn't ready, and he'd have to find his own way now. Even this she had failed to do right.

She shut her eyes, waiting for impact

….

Ignoring the flight of the firstborn, the Shiker ambled over to the edge of the ledge, peering into the darkness. What he saw dropped him to his knees with another bout of laughter.

Vivi hung, suspended inches above a stalagmite, enveloped in a warm pink glow. There was no sign of Lewis, and the laughter reached cave-shaking levels.

"You," he wheezed, leaning against the wall, "Oh gods, I haven't had this much fun in eons. I wouldn't have thought it of you, Lewis."

Vivi's body eased away from the stalagmite, her feet settling firmly on the cave floor. She opened her eyes, now a brilliant pink, and took one tottering step forward, grabbing the nearest rock formation for support.

"I suppose this is where we part for a few moments, Puppet." The Shiker stood, stretching his arms. "I have business to attend to downstairs."

A few seconds passed, and his mouth twisted down. "What is this, then?" He stretched out first one arm, then the other, clawing them as if trying to climb through air. "What have you done, Puppet?"

He inspected the hand he held in front of his face, as if reading some answer there though his thoughts turned inward, combing the host's memories. A slow grin broke out over his features. "I see. The firstborn's song. No other Puppet was so exposed. You still know who you are, and you will never forget that." He released a long sigh, hearing a two-toned cry from below and his prey's frantic flight up the tunnel. "One point, Puppet. One point to you for holding me. But no matter." He slipped a hand into his pocket. "Such situations are easily rectified. In fact, I believe it was already set in motion, wasn't it?"

Pulling out Arthur's phone, the Shiker entered a quick search for the juvie center, tapping the phone number displayed on the website.

It was an ungodly early hour, but someone had to be on duty. Five rings, followed by a groggy female voice, " 'Ello?"

He opened his mouth, once again unspooling song from its resting place in his throat. Not too much, no need to overwhelm the woman. She was no use to him dead. He counted out fifteen seconds, then stopped. There was no sound but heavy breathing on the other end of the line.

"Now," he sighed, clearing his throat, "I'm terribly sorry to have disturbed you, but it is urgent that I speak to Aji Pepper. She should have been brought in this morning, if I'm not mistaken. I know they're all asleep, but," and his eyes gleamed, "I'm sure you could make an exception for me. Put Aji on the line."

"I-immediately, sir," she stammered, dropping the phone with a clatter. She hadn't even asked his name. Oh this would be supremely useful, and he didn't even have to keep this Puppet for it. He just had to store the voice, like he stored the feathers. He let his thoughts drift, considering the potential uses for his new ingredient. Might it lend a tighter grip of fate to the crop? A richer hue of despair to the blooms?

"What is it, Dad?" Aji mumbled on the other end. Chains clinked, and he smirked at the image of her rubbing her eyes free of sleep.

"Hello, Aji." He allowed the rich, round tones of his voice a full range, and Aji's breath caught. "I just wanted to call and see how you were this evening, you know, since you tried to kill me today. Comfortable in your cell?"

"What the hell did you do?" Aji's voice shook. "You never sounded like that. What did you do?"

"Nothing your sister couldn't handle," he purred. "Or, maybe she couldn't handle it. Do you think that's why she ran, screaming, when I was through with her?"

"You bastard," she snarled.

"Words, words, words. Come now, Aji. Surely you can do better than words, especially now that I've levelled the playing field a touch."

Silence hung on the other end.

"Ah, but of course. The only reason you haven't already left that place is because you don't know where to find me now. Well, allow me to give you some leeway there. I'm sure you know where I murdered your brother, it was all over the papers." He leaned forward, picturing her face just in front of his, flushed with hate. "Come and get me."

The phone line cracked with the force of her hangup. He slid the phone back into his pocket and turned, strolling down the tunnel. "Well, Puppet. We have some time on our hands before the second born fulfills her curse and frees me from your grasp. You want to know things, don't you? You want to know so very many things. Well, shall we spend your remaining time exploring the answers?"

He swung around, strolling down the lower tunnel. No sign of Vivi, but that was no surprise. Lewis would want to be as far away as possible. "I think we shall. But please, no sense in being rude. After you, Arthur Kingsmen. After you."


	18. You Are The Piece Of Me

She tried to call for Arthur, but couldn't articulate the words. A frantic spark ricocheted off the inside of her ribs, alternately ballooning to fill her whole consciousness and shrinking to a terrified speck. Its words tangled at the base of her tongue, fighting with hers for expression, and all that came out was a horrified moan.

Her legs took her somewhere. Was it where the spark wanted her to go, or where she wanted to go?

 _Away_. Away was the most important thing. _Away_ filled her whole body and drove her down the road, faster and faster until she was sure her lungs would burst.

…...

_The first time Lewis wakes her up is the third night. He'd warned her, but Vivi really wasn't picturing a seven foot three man thrashing around in bed. She rolls clear, barely missing a flying fist, his cries loud enough to earn a solid bang on the wall from the neighbors._

_She doesn't know what to do, but if she doesn't do something the police will come. "Lewis!" she hisses. His arms and legs go every which way. It's going to hurt if she times this wrong. As one arm passes she dives under it, wrapping her arms around his middle and tucking her head against his chest. "Lewis!" She squeezes tightly. "Wake up!"_

_His thrashing slows, and his cries die away. One hand comes to rest between her shoulderblades, and it's trembling. "Vivi?" he whispers. "What is it? What's wrong?"_

_Two cups of tea later-cocoa for Vivi, extra chocolate-Lewis is staring at the mug between his hands, murmuring, "This was a mistake. I'm sorry. I never should have put you through this."_

_Vivi is stung. "Just like that?" She sets her mug down sharply, the cocoa sloshing out over the rim._

_"It's not safe. I didn't know it was that bad. Nobody watches me. I lock them out."_

_"Now you listen here," Vivi's voice is not steady. "I did not fall in love with you and invite you here to watch you-" she almost chokes. She hadn't meant to say that, but his head is already up, his eyes wide. She coughs, taking a sip of cocoa to brace herself, and continues. "To watch you up and leave because you have night terrors and you think I can't handle it. We're going to work this out. Do you hear me? We'll work it out together. Just like everything else."_

…...

Her legs wobbled as they slowed, but they did not stop. Road was too obvious. Shelter. She stretched a hand out, scattering Deadbeats to find a place to hide.

Deadbeats. Lewis. Lewis was trapped in-

Two sets of panic blotted out her vision.

…...

_The sixth time Lewis wakes her, he hides his face against her and cries like a child. He doesn't understand, he says. He hoped it would go away with Vivi there, but it isn't any better, and it'll probably never get better, and he can't remember why he's scared in his dreams, so how is he supposed to make them stop?_

_Vivi hands him a black-backed journal. She says to write down what he can remember, since it's not very much. Maybe eventually he'll be able to piece things together. "It's okay if it takes time. I'm not going anywhere."_

_His hand covers hers as he takes it, lingering. She wonders if this is the way she looked at him when he stayed after the train incident. It's like he can't believe she really exists._

_She remembers the feeling all too well._

…...

The scent of blacktop and tar. Her cheek pressed against the road. She ground her forehead into it, trying to regain a sense of herself. A Deadbeat swooped by her ear, chittering, and she reached to it for support. It swooped in under her arm, lifting her back to her feet and staying there, balancing her tottering steps as it guided her down the road.

Headlights. Screeching. Blacktop again.

…

_There are days when she can't leave bed because, even though the Lamictal helps, there are still stretches of bleakness where it is like she has no skin and everything-light, sound, motion-is painful. Duet calls them "Sick Days" and wards off questions from the regulars._

_Lewis stays the bare minimum for his shift at the Pepper Paradiso and comes back right away. Sometimes he holds her. Sometimes he plays her favorite piece on the violin, one room over so it isn't so loud. Sometimes he'll sit nearby, reading to himself and glancing over every now and then. Those nights, he does both shares of chores and relinquishes his spot to Mystery, sleeping on the couch._

_Those days she wishes she could get away from herself and assure Lewis it isn't really her. Just some unwelcome stranger who looks like her. But it is her, and she can't pretend differently. Yet, for some reason, he still lights up every time she finally emerges from the room, eyes downcast and hair matted._

_"You made it!" he cheers, lifting her and spinning._

_And she knows she's made the right choice._

…

Flashing lights. Urgent questions. Moving.

Orange. Orange was shaking her. "Where is Artie? Where is he?"

Two sets of answers spilled out of her mouth in an unintelligible groan. The questions took a different turn. A few familiar words surfaced from the blur.

_Medication._

_Restrain._

_Institute._

It came to her that she was fighting people who were trying to hold her back. They were trying to keep her still, but _Away_ was still burning in her, and she had to leave. It wasn't safe. It was never safe, no matter where he went. It never would be.

…

_Safety takes on a new definition. Vivi would never have defined safe as the man whose fists fly when he sleeps, and she's pretty sure he never would have defined it as the woman incapable of stability. He won't show her his journals yet, but he says he's getting somewhere with the fragments. It worries him. He hints that it might even open up a case for their group to solve._

_This, of course, intrigues her to no end, but she bites her tongue and tries to be patient._

_Tries._

_Tries._

_Tries so hard._

_He'll tell her soon, he promises. There's something else he wants to talk to her about too. Dinner next week at the Paradiso? He won't be working that shift, he says. Just dinner and a good talk. About the journals, of course. And other things._

_"What other things?"_

_He smiles nervously, tugging at his ascot. "Just, uh, just hold on a little longer. I promise. I'll let you in on everything next week."_

…

Too fast. Everything happened too fast. But it didn't last long. A prick at the wrist, and it slowed again. Faces moved in and out of her vision, floating in a haze. There were squares on the ceiling, but she was too fuzzy to count them.

The spark wasn't banging around anymore. It was warm, though. It lay dormant in her chest, an oasis from the numbness that claimed the rest of her.

…

_He isn't moving._

_That can't be right. He isn't supposed to be there. What is he doing, hanging like a speared fish?_

_A horrified scream from above. An arm goes sailing into the abyss. Her feet draw her into the cave, toward Lewis._

_It's just a dream. A really terrible dream._

_Now she knows for sure it is a dream. Out of Lewis' body rises a skeleton, clawing its way out of his chest, every bone visible and lined in crackling pink flame. And out of the thick, green fog rises a nightmare. "What is this?" it laughs. "The fruit of my labor is the fruit of another labor. Fascinating."_

_The nightmare pins the skeleton on its spine and asks, "What is your name?"_

_The skeleton cries, "Lewis!"_

_The nightmare laughs at him, lifting the skeleton's bony forearm. "Strange. You do not look like Lewis. You do not sound like Lewis. Who is Lewis?"_

_Bones trembling, the skeleton begins to cry._

_She knows those cries. She's woken to them every few nights for the last several months._

_Abandoning the body, she rushes the nightmare, screaming every spell she can think of to drive a demon back to hell._

_It doesn't falter. Flinch. Turn to her at all. It lowers its jaws over the skeleton, opening them and inhaling. Pink flames unwind from the bones, the outline of the skeleton dissolving, streaming into those open jaws._

_She hurls her purse at the creature's head. It doesn't move. She doesn't have anything else on hand. She yanks his locket from her neck, hurling it with a desperate shriek._

" _Lewis!"_

_His hand flies up, catching the locket. He twists on the ground, flipping over in the creature's grasp and reaching a hand out to Vivi. Its eyesockets glow pink, and fire relights its bones, and everything flashes pink and black and…_

_Blank._

…

And the oasis of warmth flooded in cold grief. She lurched, coming up short against straps on her wrists and ankles, twisting on a padded mattress and wailing.

No wonder Aji hated her. No wonder Kay sought comfort with Arthur and barely looked at her. Lewis Pepper was gone. Had been gone for months now, and every tear had been for her own lost memory. Not for the loss of Lewis himself, but for what she didn't know.

She'd struck him. Gods, she'd tried to send him back to the grave. Her gut heaved as the voices scattered around her again, preparing to administer this or that.

She'd asked him who he was. She may as well have handed him to the Shiker on a silver platter.

A needle sank into her skin, and she prayed for a dose too high for her system to handle.

"What are you doing?" One voice cut through the rest. "Remove that syringe. Who authorized this procedure? Who signed the papers? I want them in my office with all documentation in two hours."

"Mystery," two voices drifted from her mouth, synchronized for the first time.

"Who am I? This is insulting. Don't waste my time. Vivi Kimura is my patient, I've been her personal doctor since her first hospitalization. I know what she needs, and it isn't a crowd. Out!"

Long fingers undid the straps, moving from wrist to ankle, and ankle to wrist. An arm circled her shoulders, pulling her up.

"He's dead, Mystery," she moaned, her mind full of memories she didn't know she'd made. "Lewis died."

Her hand lifted itself to her eyes, tenderly wiping the tears, and she melted, sobbing, into Mystery's arms.


	19. Many Things I Wish I Didn't Do

"For Vivi's sake," Mystery's voice carried undertones of an ongoing snarl, "I am restraining myself, Lewis. But I warn you. If you have caused her any damage, any harm at all, the remainder your afterlife will be short and painful."

Her hand dropped away from her face, the warmth shrinking down to a quivering pinprick of heat by her collarbone.

She opened her mouth to reassure Mystery, but nothing came out. Her words had vanished, swept away by Lewis' rising fear.

"That is not helping your case, Pepper."

Swallowing, she tried again, forcing every syllable out. "Nnnnnot…. huuurting… mmmmmeMystery you can't think I'd ever lay a hand on her, I didn't even mean to, I was trying to catch her-it was an accident!"

An accident? Yes, she could see herself falling. Diving over the edge to catch her, save her. Then…

"Accidental possession is possible with your level of inexperience as a fresh ghost," Mystery allowed, his eyes narrowing over gleaming spectacles. "That begs the question, however, why were you trying to catch her? What happened?"

Lewis' thoughts clicked through Vivi's mind, suddenly full of the question _where was Mystery when we were in the cave?_ And the answer came to him, soaked in Vivi's guilt. She had left him unconscious by the side of the road.

Her mouth moved without her. "After she left you, she and Kay went to the cave. The Shiker was waiting… Arthur and I weren't far behind. None of her spells worked. He had me, then Arthur… Arthur started shouting at me. And at Vivi too."

"That doesn't make sense," Vivi blurted past Lewis as his fear gave way to confusion. "He knew it was anger that drew the Shiker to him the night Lewis died. He knew better than to…" Her eyes widened, and Lewis' grief drew a groan from her. "He did it on purpose. He baited the Shiker."

_He saved us._

Mystery exhaled sharply through his teeth. "That explains why Arthur is not here, hovering. It does not, however, explain why you had to catch Vivi."

 _What happened to Kay?_ Again, Lewis' question wound through Vivi's mind before coming on the answer. The curse. Mr. Pepper's confession. _The firstborn's mind to come undone._

Vivi clutched her stomach, gasping for air. Lewis' despair was sweeping her with it, dragging her down.

Mystery kept one arm wrapped around her, pressing the flat of his free hand to her forehead. "Not today, Vivi. Lewis, if you truly mean what you say about not hurting Vivi, you will find a way to contain yourself. _Now._ "

Warmth spread from her forehead, washing over her mind and spreading down to fill her chest, bracing her against Lewis' whirling emotions.

_Kay was losing her mind and I did nothing. I pushed her to the edge and the Shiker took her the rest of the way. I broke my sister. I used her deepest fear against her._

With Lewis' thoughts filtering through hers, Vivi grasped for the words to tell Mystery. "Kay… Arthur-no, he was possessed. The Shiker kissed her, and when he pulled away, his voice was different. Lewis thinks he stole Kay's voice somehow. Kay ran, and I tried to stop her. She…" she lifted her arms. From wrists to shoulders her arms were wrapped in bandages. "Burns and slices on my arms don't help my case here, do they?"

"No. You've made this entire situation decidedly more difficult than it had to be," Mystery growled. "It will be at least two more days before I can release you without suspicion."

"Two _more_ days? How long have I been here?"

"You were here one and a half days before I arrived. I would have come sooner, but I was asleep." His words were clipped. "So sorry I couldn't make it on time."

This time it was Vivi who shrank from his words.

"Of all the idiotic, bull-headed clueless things you could have done, I didn't believe you had it in you, Vivi. You have the ability to recognize your actions are out of line, I have seen you do it time and time again, and yet in a situation where the most people are in danger you decide to ignore it? We've lost Arthur. We've lost Kay, it seems. We've certainly cut off any immediate rescue of Chloe, who could be completely relocated by the time you are released. The Shiker has full access to any plan or conversation we've made with Arthur, and we have none of the knowledge Arthur was probably piecing together for us. Oh, and you are currently being possessed by a ghost who has no idea what he's doing and probably can't even disengage himself."

Mystery's hand slipped into her pants pocket, withdrawing a cracked locket. "Damaged. Badly damaged. Probably wouldn't last an hour without you at this point, even if he could disengage. Gods alone know what the Shiker is doing to Arthur right now."

"Stop," Lewis pleaded. "Mystery, she's-"

"No, Lewis, you stop. Neither of you have any idea of the seriousness of this situation and the losses we have incurred. We may never get Kay or Arthur back as they were, and Arthur may already be dead. Not to mention, now we have a precedent for the curse being linear."

"Linear?" Lewis echoed.

"Yes. If Lewis fulfilled the first line of the curse, and Kay the second, who is next?"

_The second one to kill and rage._

"According to Arthur, Aji was incarcerated for setting fire to his house. If he isn't already dead, Aji may well-" Mystery sucked in a breath. "In fact that may even be preferable to the Shiker. If he's already elbows deep in your family, Lewis, he may want to watch the rest of the curse unfold- _damn you,_ Vivi! Why?"

Vivi pulled away from Mystery, wrapping her arms around herself and withdrawing to the far corners of her mind. He was right. It was her fault, all of it. Arthur was right. Mystery was right. She'd messed everything up.

 _You're not the only one,_ Lewis whispered through her thoughts. _I see what you saw. I see Arthur. Vivi…_ Her whole body shuddered as they recalled the fiery night in the graveyard, this time through Vivi's eyes. Then again, the sight of Lewis looming like the grim reaper over an exhausted Kay and Arthur, wielding a violin as a weapon. Saw Kay's face wet with tears, Arthur's stony with rage. _He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, wasn't he? He will never forgive me._

"He's going to die," she said quietly. "Or worse. And there's nothing we can do. I can't tell him I'm sorry either. We can't save Chloe."

_What about Kay?_

"Even if we find her, she's lost her mind. How do you take care of a mad siren?"

 _Mom…_ A wave of bitterness rose in her, quickly quashed by Lewis' determination. _Mom will know. We have to bring her in on the situation._

Vivi closed her mouth, realizing she'd begun talking to herself, shutting Mystery out. She couldn't bear to look at him, but he deserved an apology.

She took a breath. "Mystery, listen. I-"

"You are confined to this room for the next two days." Mystery's voice was flat. "I will recommend you be allowed free use of your limbs. I suggest you act with care so you keep that privilege. Due to the severity of your reactions to the paramedics who attended you, medication is a requirement, not a suggestion, in order for you to leave. Is that understood?"

Stung, Vivi nodded slowly. "Yes, but Mystery-"

"That's Dr. M, if you please. I will return for our session tomorrow." He rose, crossing to the door. "I suggest you sit and consider the effect of your actions on others while I work to get you out of here. Then maybe, just maybe, we can avoid any more disasters."

…..

Mr. Pepper glanced up from his notebook, his gaze lingering briefly on his youngest daughter-still staring intently at the first page of her book-before assessing his wife. Slumped over onto the table, Teles had keeled over ten minutes ago, but not before ordering him and Dulcie to stay at the table. And telling Dulcie to drink her apple juice.

Carefully, he tore out a page from the notebook, holding his breath all the while. Teles didn't stir.

Dulcie was looking at him now. He gestured for her to come closer, and carefully scooted toward her. He took her book as she approached, sliding the notebook paper inside and handing it back to her. He took her hands, wishing with all his might that he had it in him to smile for her sake. But there was no joy in what he had to do, only fear.

"Dulcie," he whispered, "You know where I keep my wallet? It's in my pants pocket, the ones hanging on the back of the bedroom door."

She gave a tiny nod, and he squeezed her hands.

"I need you to do something for me, Dulcie. I need you to go get my wallet. And then I need you to do one more thing, and I need you to be very brave for me. Can you do that?"

Another tiny nod.

"I need you to go to Kingsmen Mechanics. I need you to go to Lance and give him the letter I put in your book, and all the money in my wallet. He's going to look after you for a little while, maybe with Arthur."

Her fingers tightened around his, her eyes widening.

"I know you don't want to, but it's important. Mommy isn't well right now. I need to make sure you're okay." He brought his hand up to her cheek, cupping her face. "What would I do without my sweet girl, huh?"

She gripped his hand harder, pointing to him, then her mother.

"I'll be okay, sweetie. I promise. Maybe I can even help Mommy get better. But I need you to go for now. I'd come with you, but you know I can't leave right now."

Dulcie wound her arms around his neck, clinging tightly for a moment, before tiptoeing out of the kitchen and down the hall. A few minutes later, the front door creaked, signaling his daughter's escape.

A glass of apple juice sat in front of Dulcie's empty chair. Mrs. Pepper had put it there for Dulcie, taking a cup of tea for herself. Thankfully, Dulcie was a sharp little observer. She'd nodded when her Mother told her to drink it, and kept staring at her book, ignoring the glass. Five minutes later, Mrs. Pepper slumped over, and Mr. Pepper began writing to Lance.

He waited another five minutes before scooting his chair around, next to Teles. She was breathing, but barely. If he called an ambulance, there was no telling if she would wake up like this or with feathers and talons. She was immortal, he had to hope whatever she'd tried to poison herself with would work itself out of her system.

After all, he was increasingly certain this was not the first time she had tried. Perhaps not even the first time she'd tried with Dulcie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been awhile since I mentioned credits, ya? Thanks to the admin of The Rise and Fall of Nickelodian facebook page for beta reading chapters at 2am when I'm freaking out about whether or not it makes sense. Thanks to Pixelw0lf, Wanderer and R5h for near constant tagging along in stream, catching my errors and brainstorming stuff with me, as well as jogging my brain about a few of these plot points. Reminder that mute Arthur headcanon attributed to Dontfeeddaelves, zeroroheichou and darkfire-kai.


	20. What Stays and What Fades Away

A drunken blond man tumbled into the center walk just outside Duet's stall. He had raccoon-sized circles ringing his eyes-black with green irises. His tongue lolled out over sharpened teeth as he rolled onto his side, shaking with laughter. Skin green as the Shiker's orb, he grinned into the stall, cracking Duet's reservation with a sneer.

"What do you think of my new Puppet?"

"Arthur?" Duet rasped, and the Shiker giggled.

"I like this one. Pity I can't keep it long, but he won't let go." He twisted his body around on the ground until he was looking at Duet upside down. "I've been giving him the tour, from the front of the cave all the way back here. We went to see-heeheeehee, oh he's mad-went to see where I kept the children." His smile stretched his cheeks back. "Empty now. Pity. Harvest day yesterday. But he got to sssssee where Lewis and Harvey playyyyed-hahahaha, oh," he gasped, running a finger along his lips, tracing them back and forth. "Oh that is marvelous anger. I have been working too hard. Not enough fun." He wrapped his arms around his ribs, overtaken by a fit of giggles.

Duet stared dumbly at what used to be Arthur. He knew very little about the man, only that he was Vivi's associate in her paranormal investigations and that his voice tended to be a good deal flatter than it was now. Flat like the voice of every other customer who walked through the doors of Tome Tomb. But if Arthur was here, then Vivi was either close behind or, likelier, had already been dealt with by the Shiker. His eyes dropped back to the cement in front of him. _We warned her. It's her own fault._

"Puppet is sssssso angry." He lay on his back, grinning at the ceiling. "Has all the pieces, he has. And can't do anything. Poor, poor Puppet." He lifted his head, tilting it. "Hear that?"

Despite himself, Duet held his breath, listening.

The usual moaning of the cavern. A bird or a bat screeching in the dark. The muffled snickers of the Shiker.

"Sheeeee's looking for you." The Shiker stroked his own shoulder, affecting tenderness. "Even out of her mind, your lover's back there, looking-hah!" He sucked in a breath, lolling back to the ground. "Gods, no sweeter wine in all the earth than this. Fantastic rage. I'd give his other arm for an ongoing supply."

Arthur was still in there, then. Nothing he could do, of course. Duet expelled the breath he'd held, hanging his head. Mortals. Always meddling in things too big for them. When would they learn there was nothing they could do?

"Oh, what was that?"

Duet cringed. Had he said it out loud?

"Puppet, do you know this one I have here?" There was a pause, then a delighted cackle. "You do! You know this one. Wondered if he was working for me. Heeeee, isn't the Puppet funny, 'Duet'?"

Duet said nothing, holding perfectly still, hoping the Shiker would take himself away in Arthur's body shortly.

"So, Puppet. You were wondering if unicorns are real. What do you think of them?"

Duet lifted his head, expecting to see Arthur facing the stall across from him. To his dismay, Arthur's face was pointed straight at him.

"Yesssssss it wasn't easy. Wasn't easy at all. They're so protected." Arthur's lips pulled back from his teeth. "Safeguards. Havens. Sanctions. So pure and innocent, sacred creatures must be protected." He spat at Duet. "Took a high ranking customer to get me what I needed. And all she could get me was one herd. One tiny little measly herd." His eyes rolled back. "Five unicorns. Five fully grown adult unicorns thrown into the human realm, and I had to herd them all on my own. Do you know how hard it is to control one? Let alone a herd? Look at those beasts!" He stretched a metal arm out, gesturing at the docile white horses in the opposite stall.

He choked on a laugh, coughing. "Puppet, the unicorn you picture would flee a butterfly if it was big enough. _This._ This is a unicorn. They do not go down without a fight, and I don't need them down. Dead. I need them alive, growing their horns all the time."

"So what do I do, Puppet?" He twisted back around, rising to his feet now. He swayed slightly, leaning on the wall of Duet's stall. "I take a little boy. I throw his soul away. I make myself a 'Quintet.' And then. Then I have myself a docile little herd to harvest at my leisure, and one easily controlled human boy."

"If you have Arthur, and he is with you," Duet hissed, "Then he knows this story."

"So there's no need to go over it," the Shiker whimpered, mocking Duet. "I don't want to hear it again, everyone in the room knows it. Well." He swaggered into the stall, lurching forward to roar in Duet's face. "Maybe I have been working my tail off for the last several decades with no appreciation for my art! You cannot see the blossoms, the fruit of my labor. But this one." He pulled back, stroking his own arm. "This one has seen the blooms. This one tried so hard to understand. He deserves a story told properly, and I deserve an appreciative audience."

The Shiker sagged against Duet's stall, the grin returning to his face. "You see, Puppet, earth souls are funny things. Pull them out, and everything dies. Immortals are stronger, so things get twistier. Pull their souls out, and you have a willing zombie. But you have to have somewhere to keep the soul so it doesn't run off and cause trouble. Or spend itself in useless attempts to get free." He hiccuped, wiping spittle from his mouth.

Duet had never seen the Shiker like this. Gleeful, yes. Gloating even. But never intoxicated. He watched the Shiker sag further down the wall. Noted the way his head rolled back and forth, jerked upright at the last moment.

Arthur had all the pieces, the Shiker had said. Was he doing something? Was it even possible?

"One of the mares dropped a foal before I got to them. Foal's easy, just paddock it off. But they tried to break it free. Thought changing the foal's body would break the soul gem's hold." Arthur reached forward, snatching Duet's pendant and yanking him forward, knocking foreheads with him. "Idiot. Now he knows. Only a kitsune could pull it off. Lost me three of my herd with that stunt."

_**N O G I T S U N E** _

Duet lurched back, breathing hard. Nobody had spoken to his mind in decades, but a single word had slipped through.

The Shiker clung to the wall, now barely holding himself up. "But who's gonna help him? Or even listen? I let you go. You tried. You barely got half a word out. You had souls of their packmates around your neck. Murderer. You had to disguise them just to survive out there."

The Shiker hadn't given him that word, Duet realized. Arthur had. Arthur, who had all the pieces.

Then the Shiker was no demon. He didn't look like a nogitsune… but then, he could appear however he wanted, couldn't he? And if he was willingly working with corrupted magicks and energy, he could easily have become more powerful than any of his relations.

He closed his eyes, tuning out the Shiker's story and reaching inward.

_Not one. Two._

For a moment, there was only one, and his heart beat harder. It had been too long. It hurt too much, and he hardly turned inward anymore.

_Please. No. Not now. There is something we can do._

He reached again, lips moving in a silent prayer.

_Not one. Two._

And there. A divide. A hairline fracture in the union. Divergent memories smashed together, pressed into a single mold and set year after year. Two souls, both burning with the same answer.

_It is time to try again._

Duet's eyes snapped open.

"...wouldn't fight it if I was you, Puppet. Shaky hands don't make for good surgery." The Shiker snickered. "Might slice through her frontal lobe. Need a clean harvest, not another dead shell."

 _No more. Not one more, Nogitsune._ Duet brought the image of the Shiker's hulking skeletal form to mind. The green orb, rolling back and forth between the eyesockets, and down to the mouth.

_Nogitsune. Cousin to the kitsune. It was never an eye._

"Laxata compede." The whispered spell was simple and straightforward, draining replenishable energy to disintegrate the shackles at his wrists.

The bird cries from the cavern grew louder, taking on a mournful tone. The Shiker slumped to the ground, his mouth open in jagged laughter. "Nothing you can do, nothing you can do. Silly, stupid mortal. Silly, stupid-"

Duet lunged forward, straddling Arthur's chest and plunging his hand into Arthur's mouth in one quick motion. Arthur's body arched as his teeth clamped down on Duet's wrist, sinking through skin and hitting bone.

Blood welled at Duet's wrist as he growled, "You have two eyes in this form. Only one place to put the Hoshi No Tama, isn't there?" His free hand curled into a fist, slamming into Arthur's jaw, which loosened. He yanked his hand free, a palm-sized green gem clutched in his fist.

The Shiker's eyes widened. He put down a hand to push himself up.

"Stay. Down." Duet's command cracked across the room, sending the Shiker back to the floor.

"You wouldn't." The Shiker's voice was unsteady. "You'll lose everything."

"Not everything." Duet pulled the gem close to his chest. "Just one more."

"The incubating curses will choke you!" He snarled. "Three months, and you and she will die if I don't remove the growth!"

"Then remove the growth," Duet replied, squeezing the gem. "And unlock our chains."

The Shiker reached up, placing a hand on Duet's neck shackle and uttering a coarse word. The shackle broke off, and the Shiker grabbed Duet's pendant, yanking it free.

Duet rolled off the Shiker, standing over him. "Now Chloe."

Growling, the Shiker rose to his feet, staggering down the aisle. He led Duet around a corner into a small sterile room. A hospital bed had been set up in the middle, thoroughly padded and piled high with blankets. Chloe lay in the bed, wrists and ankles bound to the sides.

She was asleep. Thank the gods. "Release her. Now."

The Shiker cursed, breaking each chain and removing Chloe's pendant.

"Leave this room."

"It will take more than just one to destroy me!" The Shiker panted, edging toward the door. "You… you'll leave her all alone!"

"We will see. Leave this room."

The Shiker turned the corner, and Duet shut the door. Turning, he laid a hand on Chloe's cheek. She was still burning up. How long had the fever dragged on?

It didn't matter. With no Shiker to harvest her horn, she could heal uninterrupted. Another memory wipe wouldn't cost him much more, and would remove all the pain she'd experienced here.

A pink blur moved to his right, throwing him to the ground. Another stopped his mouth from commands, as half a dozen more converged on him.

No time. He clenched his fingers around the gem. White fractures appeared along the surface, cracking down deeper, splitting the gem as it sank inward. The ghosts screeched, throwing themselves like balls around the room, ricocheting off the walls, the ceiling, the floor. The fractures widened, then split completely as they reached the center. The gem fell apart in Duet's hand, the pieces crumbling to dust.

_And then there was one..._


	21. Do You Like The Person You've Become?

There were too many memories settling through Vivi's mind. Some of them resonated along broken neural pathways, connecting gaps that had been sitting empty for months. Others rattled around, finding no place to rest because they were not hers.

_The first time I see Lewis, he and Squire are being herded down the hall to detention. He smiles at me. Nobody at that school even looks at me anymore, but I get a smile and a wink._

Hands prodded her. Guided her. Dressed and undressed her. Washed her. Changed the bandages on her arms. She paid them no mind, examining every memory-whether hers or Lewis'-and burning it into her mind.

_Hold onto your name, and he'll never take you down. That's what she always says, the little foal in the paddock. She heals me and makes sure I remember who I am._

"I won't lose you," she mumbled as an attendant dried her hair. "If I can't keep these memories when you leave, fine. I'll remember looking at them. A picture of a picture."

Her hand came up to her cheek, cupping it. The aide sighed, removing Vivi's hand from her face and returning her to bed.

_Purple and blue sweep the dance floor on grad night. Others mutter about some people being "showoffs." But they are just happy to have made it. Lewis has a record-breaking amount of detentions, suspensions, and near expulsions to his name. Vivi has been held back for two years and with a string of Fails and Incompletes. But they made it to graduation. And tonight, they celebrate all across the dance floor, heedless of anyone around them, laughing with every turn around the polished wood floor, "We made it!"_

Night brought terrible visions. Burning flesh and Lewis, begging for mercy. But then it wasn't Lewis, it was Arthur, writhing as the Shiker burned him alive. She woke, her screams and refusal to leave the corner she cowered in earning her another round of sedatives.

"I'm sorry," her mouth slurred. Her chest had to be turning inside out. She couldn't handle two sets of grief. "I'm sorry, Arthur."

 _Of course_ Arthur wasn't the same as Harvey. _Of course_ he hadn't been planted by the Shiker. _Of course_ Kay had nothing to do with it. It was so clear.

Vivi no longer had the heart to berate him. She saw the train of thought he had sealed himself into. Now he had her perspective of events alongside his own, and he could see Arthur running himself ragged trying to piece together what had snatched Lewis from them while navigating mythologies he'd been thrust into with no forewarning. And with that, Lewis' accusations against Kay fell silent as well. He knew how much his sister wanted to be freely chosen. He had just been afraid of what could be; afraid to see his best friend dead and his sister shattered. But he should have trusted her. And he should never have blamed her.

Lewis thrashed himself in the depths of her mind, and Vivi wept for their collective shortcomings. Even with Lewis' rage, Arthur still might have had a chance if she hadn't rushed in without him. She would never be able to face Lance. He'd been there earlier, hadn't he? She recalled someone shaking her on the way to the institute. She'd have to pack and leave town. She couldn't tell him Arthur was dead, or worse.

"Visitors, miss?" broke through their floundering. An aide propped her up and stood nearby, hands crossed at his waist.

_I used to turn them all away when they came to visit me. I knew Lew and Artie were there, but I couldn't have them see me like this._

For a fraction of a minute, Vivi hoped it was Arthur. It had been two days now, maybe he had outsmarted the Shiker. It was Squire, after all. He hadn't given up yet, maybe-

Lance Kingsmen marched through the door, shattering the dual hope. He was followed by Dulcie, and Vivi's heart stuttered on sight of her.

" _She's so tiny, Mom. I can't hold her. Look, my hands are too big, I'll drop her!"_

Dulcie hung back, trailing a foot or two behind Lance, her eyes on the ground.

 _"Of course I_ want _to hold her but I don't want to hurt her! What kind of brother would I be if I dropped her first meeting? Maybe when she's like one or two-No, don't!"_

Her eyes were puffy. There was one rainbow clip in her bed-mussed hair and her clothes were sleep-rumpled. She clutched a familiar purple alpaca under one arm-familiar to Lewis. After his birthday, Aji told him that Dulcie had saved for months.

_"Wow… okay… I didn't drop her. Now… now what? Oh gods she's crying, whatdoIdo?"_

"Sir, I'd like a private talk with Miss Vivi," Lance's voice was wire-tight.

"I'm sorry, sir. She's displayed erratic behavior since admittance. For your safety and hers, I have to stay. I also have to remind you that, given her current level of required care, you can only visit for fifteen minutes."

_"Hey. She's not so bad. Look at that, oh, Mom, look, she smiled at me! Hey! Hey, what's her name? Dulcie? Hey Dulcie. I'm your big brother! She smiled again, Mom! I think she likes me!"_

"Hogwash," Lance barked. "This is standard emergency 72-hour hold. Girlie told me how it goes. Tomorrow, whether she's fit or not, if she ain't signin' on fer more paid care, she's out the door. Not ta mention visiting hours are visiting hours."

The aide shifted. "Yes, but her personal doctor said-"

"Personal doctor can run off a cliff. Vivi." He approached the hospital bed, gripping the plastic railing. "Vivi, please. I ain't heard from Artie in two days. Last I heard, you two were headed off on a case. I found you out when they call me as emergency contact, an' you couldn't speak a lick of sense. First day I get to come in, an' we don't have much time 'cause news broke an hour ago. Please. Vivi. Where's Artie?"

Vivi covered her face with her hands, shame rising like bile at the back of her tongue. Her fingers split apart slightly to keep Dulcie in view.

"Don't do that look." Lance's voice cracked in synch with the plastic rail. "Don't… don't you dare. Where is he?"

Vivi shook her head.

"Girlie, I got a crazy woman few steps behind, another crazy escapee that's probably gone to find Artie, and I need my nephew with me so I can get him the hell outta whatever he's done got himself into. Now you ain't said the word 'dead' yet. Is he dead?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

"That's better'n dead. There's somethin' to be done about 'I don't know.' Whatever it is, we do it fast, 'cause Juvie Hall's down."

Vivi blinked, pulling her hands away from her face. "What do you mean 'down'?"

"I mean yellow caution tape, loads'a police, and big 'don't panic' announcements from the mayor. Nobody says what's happened. I got a guess or two myself, and it ain't good for Artie. I set off a dozen texts and calls to him. No answer."

Vivi clamped her mouth shut over Lewis' response. Pausing a moment to collect herself, she managed, "Lance. I don't know if he's still there. Or still alive."

"Where? Still where?"

"The cave. We went back."

Lance's eyes narrowed, his knuckles white on the bed rail. His lips twitched a few times before he finally settled on a response. "That was stupid." He dragged the back of his hand over his forehead. "Look, girlie, I need you out. Kid's Ma is…" He glanced at the aide, before looking back at Vivi, weighing his words. "Real worried. Worried my front door right down this mornin'. But Kid's pa sent her to me, so we took a quick walk out the back door 'cause somethin' ain't right."

Vivi's jaw tightened, a dozen questions from Lewis running through her head. She picked one. "Why did Mr. Pepper send Dulcie to you?"

Lance leaned in, whispering, "Word has it Mrs. Pepper's lost a few screws."

"That's not true!" Lewis burst past Vivi. "Who said that?"

Lance straightened slowly, his eyes narrowing to slits. Behind him, Dulcie's mouth dropped open.

"I'm sorry, sir," The aide interrupted. "I have to ask you to leave. You're aggravating her. She slips into an alternate personality in moments of stress. The voice change is a sign of it."

"Alternate personality my arse," Lance growled. "Heard enough 'a that voice in my shop through the years. Girlie, nod me once fer yes, but you got yerself a real possessive boyfriend, dontcha?"

Swallowing, Vivi nodded her head.

"Sir, visiting time is over. If you don't leave, I'll have to call the authorities." The aide reached for his pocket.

A Deadbeat divebombed the man, sending him sprawling to the floor.

"What are you doing?" Vivi demanded.

"Jailbreaking." Her body sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. "Don't you hear it?"

"I don't hear anything over your stupid idea!" Vivi fought for control.

"'m sorry, Vivi. But if Dad sent Dulcie away from Mom, he had a good reason. Mr. Kingsmen is right, something's wrong because I hear Mom downstairs _singing in public._ " Two more Deadbeats grabbed the stunned aide, dragging him into the bathroom and locking the door.

The door to her room flew open, admitting a haggard looking Dr. M. "Vivi, Lewis, we don't have much time. Mrs. Pepper-"

"I know." Lewis stretched out into Vivi's arms, lifting them up over her head. "Mr. Kingsmen, hold onto Dulcie and stay near me. We're leaving."

Lance turned, grabbing Dulcie's hand and yanking her closer.

"Under most circumstances I would stop you, but I did not count on Mrs. Pepper coming." Mystery scooted closer to Vivi, placing his hands on her shoulders. "On the condition that you draw from my energy, not Vivi's."

"Gladly." With that, her hands drew little circles in the air, flicking back and forth and sweeping wide one at a time. The white walls gave way to peeling purple wallpaper, the glistening tile to wood and a worn pink carpet runner. Sweat broke out on her forehead as she continued gesturing for another two minutes, before her arms dropped to her sides.

"We're well out of city limits, now. She won't know where we've gone." Lewis subsided, fading back to allow Vivi control again.

Someone tugged on her sleeve. Glancing down, she saw Dulcie at her side, one hand in her pocket, the other pulling on her sleeve. She knelt, careful to not move too fast. Dulcie pulled a long purple cloth from her pocket, looping it carefully around Vivi's neck and tying it at the collar.

"I'm… sorry… Lewis." Dulcie's words could barely be heard. "I didn't mean to kill you."


	22. Still Warm On The Ground

_Steady. Calm. Your wings will bear you easily if you treat them well. Beat them, and they will fail you._

Mom's lessons couldn't help her now. Aji knifed across the sky like a fox with a dog on its tail, determined to outfly her thoughts. She would only stop long enough to get her hands on Kingsmen. Then she could get up and fly away and never come back. She wouldn't have to worry about those other thoughts because she could always outfly them.

_Release the song slowly. You will want to scream, you will want to wail every single note, but you must learn control. No daughter of mine will have human blood on their soul, so you must practice as often as you can._

"I tried!" she panted, her arms trembling. "I did!"

_No daughter of mine._

"Stop!" she shrieked, angling for the ground. She barely dropped her legs down in time to catch herself running.

Too fast, she hit the ground, rolling four or five times before coming to a stop. Dizzy, she pushed herself up, taking stock of her surroundings.

A cavern maw matching the news clipping pinned to her bedroom mirror. The Mystery Skulls' dumb van parked out front. A single golden feather laid carefully at the cavern mouth.

Kingsmen was never too far from her sister. He'd even said as much.

How the hell had he gotten a siren's voice? There was no mistaking it. No human voice had that round, full tonal quality. Not like that. He'd insinuated something about Kay. Had he hurt her? Had he finally stooped that low?

It would just make his death slower.

No, she couldn't. Something would try to stop her, just like all the other times. It had to be quick. Kingsmen had the devil's luck when it came to survival and getting out of scrapes. Strike hard and fast, then revel in the moment. It would make it all worth it.

Then flee. The police were probably already looking.

Shoving herself off the ground, she pelted into the cave, taking half a second to wrench a small feather free and drop it next to Kay's. Which way did Kingsmen say he went? Up. He went up, and there was a ledge or something. It would be the perfect spot to launch a new flight. She could drop down on him from above. Of course he would see her coming, but she wasn't too worried.

Unless he had a gun.

It didn't matter. Shooting a moving target in the dark? He wouldn't stand a chance.

For that matter, though, how was she supposed to find him in this dark? The only light was an eerie green glow from the walls, hardly enough to see more than a few feet.

"Loooooooooooost."

Aji's knees locked, her eyes wide.

"Loooooooooooooooost."

That was Kay. But her voice was all wrong. It was dull. Pitched all strange. Was it even in any key?

"Loooooooooooooooooooost."

Aji hurtled headlong up the tunnel. Kay was an idiot, but that was her sister out there, and something was wrong with her.

The tunnel opened up to a well of pitch black. She threw herself back, landing hard on her rear to keep from falling over the same ledge Lewis-

"Loooooooooooooost."

It was coming from overhead. Her sister was flying in this? Of course she was, how was she supposed to land safely if she didn't know where it was safe to land?

"Here!" Aji called, waving her arms at the dark. The walls barely lit her skin a dingy green. Maybe Kay could see her. "Here!" The walls threw her voice back at her, mocking her four or five times before waiting for her to try again.

"Loooooooooost."

It was a little closer than last time. Kay was coming in for a landing.

"Come on, Kay! I'm here, follow my voice. Land for me. I'm right here." She would have given anything for a flashlight. Why hadn't she checked the van?

"Looooooooooooooost."

It was practically over her head. She raised her arms, waving harder. "Here! Here! He-"

Something large clipped her left shoulder, sending her sprawling half over the edge. She rolled herself back, breathing hard as she pressed her hands flat to the ground to steady herself. Too close.

"Looooooost," came mournfully a few feet away.

Aji dragged herself toward the voice, feeling around in the dark. She found her sister's wings, her arms shaking. How long had she been flying in the dark? Aji pulled her closer to the wall for the light. Kay's head lolled back, her eyes staring at nothing. "Loooooost," she mourned.

"What's lost? What did he do to you?" Aji peered at her sister's face. Kay didn't meet her eyes, staring through her like she wasn't there. "Say something to me!"

"Looooooost."

"No! Say something to _me!_ _To me!_ Your sister!"

"Loooooooooooost."

Aji slapped Kay, but her head only lolled to the side now, the same blank stare on her face.

She was gone. Whatever Kingsmen did-

"Kay!"

Red. Everything was red. He'd stolen her sister's voice, driven her mad, and yet he dared call her name.

"Kay! I'm coming for you!"

And at the sound of his voice, Kay lifted her head, her eyes flicking to the side before returning to nothing.

She would answer to the murderer, but not to her own sister. Aji stood, the strain from her own flight vanishing before the red that swallowed her vision. She approached the edge of the ledge, flexing every talon at the end of her fingers. The tips of her sneakers hung over the edge for a moment. Down on the floor of the cavern, a little green point of light weaved back and forth.

"This is for Lewis," she whispered to the dark, then spread her arms and leaped.

…..

 _Wrong_ was a feeble word that hardly covered half of what it felt like to stretch back into his own body. _Foreign_. _Detachable_. That came a touch closer to it.

A mournful call snapped Arthur to attention. He lay in some kind of aisle-the stables. He was in the stables, that's where the Shiker had brought them. He fumbled in his pocket, feeling the pulse of the two incubating curses the Shiker had jammed there. He had to get rid of them, fast.

The Shiker was gone, but he wasn't gone. Arthur could feel his presence overlaying every movement, his memories settled over every thought. No longer fragments, the entirety of Meynung Shiker's existence had crammed its way into his skull, curled like a trapped animal, clawing the inside of his head. He moved an arm to get a good push-off. The stables tilted and his stomach flipped. Oh yeah. Something was definitely wrong.

No time to figure through things. How long had he been out cold? Kay. Kay called him, but he couldn't make out the words. He lurched up, barely catching himself on a nearby stable door. It was unlatched and swung inward, dumping him on his back under a great, white muzzle.

The horse-no, the unicorn-didn't so much as twitch, its teeth grinding away at a mouthful of moss that trailed out between its lips. Arthur rolled over, trying to get himself back up again.

The second one lay side by side with the first on a set of massive, plush pillows. This one looked to be asleep, its head slumped to the side against its stablemate's flank, mouth open. Duet had wedged himself between its forelegs, wrapping his arms around the neck and hiding his face.

Too still. The sides did not rise and fall. This one had died.

He could barely hear Kay. There was no time to question Duet. No time. It was becoming a refrain. Fighting tilt-a-whirl senses, he marched one foot in front of the other, retracing steps back to the cavern.

Out of the stables. Past the empty Paddock. Down the side of the ravine. No wonder nobody found this place, who wanted to go through a cavern like that? The property was hedged by trees grown close together, woven in between with brambles so thick he couldn't see the other side. The cave was the only viable entrance and exit, unless you could fly. He reached out his metal arm to grab the unlit torch in passing, the one the children left there for themselves.

_I don't want to know. It's not my information._

The vines still clung to his arms. He didn't dare look to see how much they'd grown now that he had taken part in two curse fulfillments. But he could see them. "Why now?" he muttered. "Not having an out of body this time. Wish I was."

Just through the cave entrance, the scent of copper, vomit, and waste hung on the air. Some was old, stale even. But a fresh reek of foulness presented itself. Someone had brought recent death to the cave.

_I don't want to know this!_

He tried to shut away this new sense, even as he waved the green-burning torch to light his way. How had he come to light it? Why was the flame green?

_I don't want to know anything anymore! No more questions, I swear! Never again!_

"Looooooooooost." Her voice was clearer now, mournful, and definitely on the far side.

He eased along the cavern floor, weaving between jagged spires of rock. He grabbed them at every opportunity, steadying and supporting himself. The tilt-a-whirl had eased, but everything still rocked like a ship's deck. If it didn't stop soon, he'd be adding his own vomit to the smell on the air.

"Looooooost."

"Kay!" He called. He had to get to the far side of the cavern. To the tunnel, and then curve back around. "Kay! I'm coming for you!"

The sense he did not want jammed up in his guts, halting him in his tracks. The foul smell filled his nostrils. Blood and sickness, the last evacuations of the human body before death. And the lovely, intoxicating fragrance of rage.

"I'm Arthur!" he hissed at himself. "I'm Arthur, not the Shiker, and I can't smell rage! That's not possible!"

Wait. Who hated him? Kay had lost her mind and Vivi had run for the hills with Lewis.

The air pressure above him shifted, and he pulled his arm back, launching the torch as far away from himself as possible. Wingbeats followed the light into the distance, and he crouched low to the ground, groping in the dark.

_With my luck? Probably Aji._

Once she figured his trick out, Aji would be listening for him. If she stilled herself enough, she might be able to track him. Unless he moved fast. But he'd just thrown away his only light source, which he could still see as a faint flicker several feet off.

The flicker lifted into the air as someone waved the brand, shouting, "Kingsmeeeeeen!"

Definitely Aji, and now she had a light source. Crouching close to the ground, he slipped his phone out and held it underneath himself, tapping out a text to Vivi.

**i kno u can4t trust me but he;lp ajis here /send**

No time. No time. No time for more. He slipped it back in his pocket.

_I could just kill her._

"I am not the Shiker!" he snapped. Eyes wide, he dove to the right, ramming his shoulder into a rock formation. He followed it around to the other side as the light dropped down where he'd been seconds before.

He pressed his back to the rock, trying to still his breathing. Feathers rustled high overhead while sneakers hit stone behind him.

"Looooooooost," wailed from the ceiling.

"Go back, Kay!" Aji snapped. "You can't land here!"

_You did. But I guess you have the light._

A shoe splashed into a puddle far too close for comfort, and he slid around the spire the other way, peering around from behind. Green flame threw shadows slithering along every stalagmite, and Aji thrust the brand after every shadow to determine it clear, her long red feathers trailing every move. Pale yellow blossoms with blood red tips had opened up all along the vines that wound around her throat, though the buds tangled along her talons remained shut. The freshest scents of death hung around her.

 _She's already killed. So she'd still murder me even if the curse is already fulfilled. Good to know. Who could she have-_ He caught his breath. She'd been locked up in Juvenile Hall. She wouldn't have…

 _To get to me, of course she would._ His eyes stung. How many more deaths would he have to shoulder?

She jerked around and he yanked his face back.

A second too late. She swung around the spire as he took to his heels. The light from her torch cast a glow of a few feet, but he couldn't stay that close. He kept his hands stretched out, hitting obstacles palms-first and swinging around them as he ran. His feet kept catching on the ragged, upthrust floor

"Looooooooooost."

"Kay!" he shouted. "Tell her! Tell her it wasn't me!"

"Don't you talk to my sister!" Talons sank deep into his right shoulder, jerking him from his run. He hit the ground. Aji flipped him like he weighed nothing, shoving her knee into his gut and pulling her arm back, talons outstretched. He blocked with his robotic arm, the talons glancing off with a spark.

_I'm going to die. And it's going to hurt._

_Set her on fire. Overload her mind, leave her a vegetable._

"I'm not the Shiker!" he shouted, grabbing her by the hair and dragging her off to the side. He was barely to his feet before she tackled him to the ground again. His robotic arm was pinned below him. He tensed for the blow.

Wingbeats. A crushing weight to his ribcage. Aji smashed up against him as feathers, red and gold, dropped all around him.

"No!" The weight lifted as Aji reared off him, and he twisted around. She had Kay by the throat and slammed her to the ground. "Why? Why are you still defending him? You're not even here! You're all gone upstairs! Why? Stop getting in my way!"

Arthur went cold. "Aji let go!" he screamed. "Talons!"

Aji fell silent. Arthur could hear Kay's breath whistling in ways it wasn't supposed to.

"Get off her! I can get her help! There's a healer here! Move!" Arthur scrambled over to Kay as Aji pulled her talons free of her sister's neck, still staring down. Arthur jammed his hands under Kay, losing a layer of skin on the rocks. Blood ran down her neck and sprayed as she coughed. He had to get her to Chloe before Kay drowned in her own blood. Chloe could heal her.

"Stay with me, Kay. Come on. Aji! Light!" He paused. He didn't know where the back of the cave was anymore, or the front even. Which way had he come? "Get a light up high, show me where the back of the cave is!"

As he spoke, a hunched figure hung with rags glided out of the shadows ahead of him. Another stepped from his right, and a third from his left.

"I don't have time for you, whoever you are!" Arthur shouted. "Aji, get that light up!" He glanced over his shoulder, but Aji had not taken her eyes off her hands, now dripping with blood. "Aji!"

"It was not meant to be," one of the figures mumbled, circling Arthur. "Was his thread to be snipped, not hers."

"Can her thread be snipped?" a second demanded. "We have dulled our scissors on hers."

"And yet there she lies, dead," observed the third. "The life is gone."

"Stop it!" Arthur clutched her closer. "You're lying! She's not!"

"She breathes no more."

"She'll breathe if you get out of my way!" he insisted, storming ahead. They followed, weaving between the spires to circle him still.

"Their threads are tangled too close together," the second complained. "She muddled it all when she bound him, and now he's bound her back. Immortals should not have children with mortals, nothing is clear as it should be."

"Then take it all." The first waved a hand. "We bring her, body and soul. It is her time, even if her thread cannot be snipped."

"Over my dead body!" Arthur snarled, his teeth scraping oddly against his cheeks.

"Not yet, thanks to her. Stand back, mortal. You may be tainted, but you are weak." The first produced a length of cloth from a wide-mouthed sleeve, plucking at a strand with bent and knobby fingers. Arthur tumbled to the ground, his body nerveless. Nothing worked, and as the third figure bent to lift Kay from his arms, he cried, "Kay! Don't go! Kay, wake up! Tell them you're not dead!"

"Stop trying to weave, mortal," the first sighed, tucking the cloth back into its sleeve. "There's nothing left to weave with."

A breath, and they were gone. No flash of light, no ominous thunder. Gone.


	23. The Nightmare's Just Begun

Vivi faded back as Lewis rested their hands on Dulcie's shoulders. "Dulcie, who on earth told you… why would you think that? You weren't even there."

Dulcie's lip quivered. "Mom always said… don't sing without her. Wait for the change. But it's not fair. I wanted to sing. I found a real quiet place and sang a little song." Her shoulders shook. "And then I came back and they said you were dead. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

_"She doesn't talk. I don't know why, but she hasn't talked since you died. She was dressing in your clothes for weeks afterward."_

Lewis pulled her close, drawing Dulcie's head to their shoulder. "Dulcie, no. It was never you. You had nothing to do with it. I've had a monster chasing me for a very long time, Dulcie. Since before you were born. And that's what killed me. A big, scary, nasty demon. It was never you. I promise."

Dulcie's fingers knotted in the folds of Vivi's now-sleeveless sweater as she clung to the last vestiges of her brother. "Are you gonna stay? Please stay, Lewis. I need you. I'm scared, and you made it all safer."

Vivi's supported Lewis' buckling spirit, calming the tremble in his voice to the mildest tremor. "I hope I can, Dulcie. I'm trying."

"Are you gonna come home and help Mom? Dad says she's sick."

"Her Pa wrote a letter sayin' he caught her Ma tryin' to poison her," Lance butted in bluntly. "Sent her to me, beggin' me to keep her safe. An' I don't mean to be rude, but either we are finding Arthur or someone is doin' a crapton'a explainin' to me, 'cause I can't take much more waiting on either. You wanna start, Mystery?"

Mystery stiffened. "Wait…"

"Don't bother. Yer daft if ye think I dunno what goes on in my own shop," Lance growled, setting his hands on his hips. "And yer awfully loud for somethin' tryin' not ta get caught. 'Specially when you're in a room where it's just you an' Artie, and I can't get him t'say more'n two words these days if I'm lucky. Artie isn't the type ta go on long-winded rants 'bout how dumb he is. Dead giveaway, dog."

"What do you mean poison?" Lewis demanded. "Vivi, did you know-no, you didn't. Dulcie, what's wrong with Mom?"

"I don't know." Dulcie's voice muffled through the bunched-up fabric at Vivi's shoulder. "Stopped going to work. Stopped eating. Cries a lot, talks about flowers we can't see. She won't let Dad leave."

Vivi's body tensed. Mrs. Pepper hadn't commanded Lewis often, but it he'd hated it, sometimes ducking around corners or into the nearest restroom to gather himself. The loss of control his mother's voice inflicted unnerved him for reasons he'd only begun to understand after recalling the Shiker.

"Lewis!" Lance snapped. "Either get us to Artie or drop me there, I don't care, but I need ta get to my nephew!"

Vivi's phone chirped from her purse. It lay near the staircase. Mystery probably gathered her things the first day he found her again. She fished for her phone as Mystery sighed.

"Mr. Kingsmen, it's more complicated than you're allowing for."

"No, really? And here I thought this was all a candyland dream. Follow gumdrop road an' all that molassass."

"Your sarcasm is unhelpful."

"And yer face is unhelpful. Take me to Artie."

"Your nephew is possessed, Lancelot, and if you would just calm-"

"Don't you call me that you son of a-"

"Guys, cool it!" Vivi snapped. "Arthur texted." She bit her lip. "What do you think, Lew?"

"I think it's a trap," Lewis responded. "The last call you got was a trap too."

"But look at the style, Lew. If the Shiker was trying to snag us, wouldn't he copy Squire's texting style?" She scrolled back through previous texts. "Partial sentences, but all capitalized, properly spelled, and punctuated. This last one is a panic text."

"The Shiker can fake panic! He'll do whatever he has to to get what he wants!" Vivi's arms wrapped around her torso. "He will kill you slowly to break me, Vee. He will."

"Gimme that." Lance swiped it from her hands, inspecting the text. "Confirmed. Artie won't text like that 'less it's bad. Last time I saw texts like that he was jammed in an alley hidin' from some thug kids. If someone's tryin' to scam you, they've done a damn good job. I'd try to be calmer tellin' you to come back. 'It's all over, I'm fine,' not…" he glanced down at Dulcie, swallowing his words. "Mm. Not this."

"This is madness!" Mystery spat. "You ran into one trap so you could escape and run right back into another one? Because of _text patterns?_ "

Vivi's teeth sank into her lip. She took a deep breath in through her nose. "Lew. Touch down for a few seconds in the cave. Let's see what we're dealing with. If he sneezes wrong, we scram."

Mystery grabbed her by the shoulders, spinning her to face him. "I've had it up to here, Vivi! You are deliberately bringing yourself, Lewis, Dulcie, Lance, and me into danger on next to no proof! How many times do you expect me to find you? How powerful do you think I am?" He shook her, shouting, "Not powerful enough is the answer! It would take my whole pack at least to come at The Shiker properly, and we still don't know what we're dealing with. Do you want me to just belly up and open my mouth to him? Is that what you want, Vivi? Watch him slit you neck to navel just because he can? Is it? Is that why you pulled me out of the gutter, to let me get attached to you so you could get yourself killed? I won't have it! You're all the pack I have anymore!"

Vivi's eyes filled. She was having difficulty pulling words past the shame in her throat. Lifting her hands to his wrists, she squeezed them gently. "Mystery. I'm sorry. I never should have done that. But Squire… he's pack, too."

Mystery pulled his hands out of her grip, turning away. "Do what you will. I don't give a damn. If we survive this, Vivi, that's it. You're on your own. I'm finished with you."

Vivi pulled back. She wouldn't cry in front of Mystery now. Lewis assumed control, stretching out his hands to conduct the mansion. "Dulcie. Listen to me. I'm going to send a friendly little ghost to take you to a room where you'll be safe. We'll be fine, but I want you further away. Okay? Don't be scared. It won't hurt you."

A Deadbeat nuzzled Dulcie's arm and chirped up at her, blinking round yellow eyes. Dulcie stepped back, startled, but the corner of her mouth lifted. She patted its head, hesitant, but with more of a smile as it cooed. It tugged on her arm and she followed reluctantly, keeping her eyes fixed on Vivi until the Deadbeat pulled her upstairs and out of sight.

Vivi was beginning to understand how the mansion moved. She watched his thoughts as he pictured the cave, imagining the mansion materializing at the opening to the lower level as their hands swept through the motions of a conductor. She made a mental note to ask him how he made the mansion itself.

"Some other time," he grunted, dropping their arms.

A howl blasted through the front windows, shattering glass all over the front room. The aged front door jolted against its hinges, the frame twisting from a blow.

Vivi's hands lifted immediately to whisk them away, but to her shock, Mystery shouted, "Wait! Something… I smell something!"

Rushing to the window, he poked his head out. "Gods… Arthur?"

"Come out!" The door splintered further. The tip of a large, black nose poked through with rather large fangs hanging out from under them. "I know you're in there! If I can't catch her, _I'll take you_!"

"We're leaving!" Lewis raised his hands again.

"Lower your hands!" Mystery barked. "We're not going anywhere!"

"He's still possessed!" Vivi shouted.

"No he's not! This is something else." Mystery swung his leg out over the windowsill and slipped out. A startled yelp sounded, and Vivi and Lance rushed to the window.

Two animals the size of the mansion wrestled in the dark, leveling thinner spires across the floor as one drove the other back.

"More light, Lew!" Vivi lifted her hands, and Lewis lent a brighter glow to the mansion, filling the cavern with warm, rosy light.

A second kitsune faced off against Mystery, lips drawn back from its teeth, its eyes burning green. Its yellow-and-brown mottled coat spiked out, fluffed with fury. It crouched on three legs, a tiny glint of metal hanging at the stump where its fourth leg would be, sweeping seven tails back and forth threateningly.

"Arthur, I'm not your enemy." Mystery maintained a crouch as well, but waved his tails in a friendly manner, his ears perked upright.

"You're in my way!" The kitsune snarled. "Move!"

"Why? What are you planning?" Mystery edged ever so slightly closer.

"I'll see how he likes it!" the kitsune bolted forward, but Mystery lunged forward, snapping jaws shut on the spiky scruff and whipping him across the cave.

Vivi couldn't move. What had happened to Arthur?

Arthur was staggering to his paws, shaking rubble from his coat. "I see how it is. Lewis gets everything. He gets to be loved, and I don't. His love gets to survive beyond the grave, and mine doesn't. He gets saved, and I get left behind! I have lost everything, and I will take it back from him!"

He crouched to spring, but Mystery slammed his shoulder into Arthur, pinning him against the wall. Arthur snapped his jaws at Mystery, but he couldn't turn his head enough to catch anything.

"He… wants to kill me?" Lewis whispered in disbelief.

Vivi didn't bother repressing the full recognition of this irony, and Lewis ducked his head.

"Wait. 'His love gets to survive beyond the grave, and mine doesn't.' " Vivi's head snapped up as Lewis scanned the cave, frantic. "Vivi, I don't see Kay. Where is Kay?"

"Don't you say her name!" Arthur railed. "You don't have the right! You lost it! It's your fault, it's all your fault!"

Horror crawled up Vivi's spine. "Arthur, what happened to Kay?"

"I will kill you!" Arthur roared.

"By the smell of it, she's dead," Mystery grunted, struggling to keep Arthur in place.

Lewis stared out across the cavern.

"I smell freshly spilled blood and ocean spray. Add Arthur's behavior, and it is obvious."

For a moment, Arthur stopped struggling, lifting his snout to sniff the air. "She's getting away!" He lunged forward. Mystery barely had time to catch him by the scruff of his neck again. "Let go of me! She's getting away! Come back here! I know what you did!" Arthur screamed to the darkness. "I know what you did! _Murderer! Murderer!_ "

A little pink ghost soared out over the cavern, coming to a stop, trembling, in front of Arthur's snout. Gingerly, it bopped him on the nose with a tiny something. As Arthur's eyes landed on it, all fight seemed to go out of him. He slumped against the wall, opening his jaws in a long, low keening.

"I can't take it, I can't take it anymore, oh gods. Mystery. Mystery, help me. Everything hurts."

"I would imagine." Mystery finally released him, and Arthur collapsed in a heap of fur. "Your body was never meant for this. Do change back so we can get you to a bed, you've wrecked yourself spending more energy than you have."

"Don't… know how…" Arthur panted.

The little ghost tried to scoot off, but Vivi snapped her fingers. It responded to Lewis' unspoken call, whizzing up to display its prize; a bright, sparkly rainbow hairclip.

"Absolutely not," Lewis responded to the thought already forming in Vivi's mind. "If you think I'm letting her near him after I've already lost one sister, possibly to him, you've got another think coming."

"Dulcie sent this over to him, and he responded to her, Lew. We have to know what happened. We'll stay nearby, just in case. But we need answers." She glanced at Lance out of the corner of her eye. The man was frozen at the window on the opposite side of the door, his expression walled off as he studied Arthur. "All of us need answers."


	24. I Can't Take It Anymore

Arthur could count every one of his hundred and thirty six bones, each one reminding him loudly that none of this came naturally. "Make it stop," he whined, pawing the side of his snout. "Make it stop, can't think. It hurts."

"I can't make it stop, Arthur. You're the only one that can change back."

Arthur. Arthur. Everyone was so keen to call him Arthur, how did they know? He had Kay's voice and the Shiker's abilities and memories, was he still actually Arthur? The person who would be able to tell him was dead and gone and oh-yes, that hurt too. That thing he couldn't count or point to or ever, ever fix again in this life.

"Don't understand." He dragged the side of his snout across the ground. "Don't understand. Tried everything. Nothing worked with me. Everything worked against me. Why. It's not my fault."

"Arthur, you want the pain to stop. You have to work with me. Try to remember-"

Anger flared up, and Arthur snapped, "No! Why should I have to work? Why should I have to do anything more for any of you? How many times did I try to work with them, Mystery?"

"Arthur, this isn't about-"

"I don't care! I'm done! Do you hear me? Done! Finished! I'm not doing one more-oh gods, no…" His voice trailed off as a small form approached. Flanked by Deadbeats, two on each side, Dulcie was making her way over to him.

It was the first time he had seen her curse. Delicate spring green vines had woven themselves in intricate chain links between her wrists. A similar set wove between her ankles, and a much thicker vine wound round her neck in the disturbing likeness of a noose.

_The third to live within my cage._

Judging by the noose, she wouldn't live very long.

Arthur raked the ground with his forepaw and wailed. "Nothing, Mystery! All for nothing. All failure. I can't save even _one_ of them!"

Dulcie paused where she was, gripping a nearby rock formation, her eyes wide and round. A couple of the Deadbeats tugged on her arms, trying to pull her back, but she shook them off, her eyes on Arthur. She took another step toward him, and he pushed himself back, giving a string of short, high-pitched whines.

"Don't! Don't come near me!"

_You know what happens to children here._

"Dulcie, get away from me!"

_Not enough seeds. She will be coming for the rest of the seeds, and we don't have enough._

"Nnnnnn! Nnnnn! Nnnn!" Arthur hit the side of the cave. Mystery hadn't moved, he was just staring as Dulcie drew closer. "I don't want to hurt you!"

All four Deadbeats were now pulling on Dulcie's arms, but she pushed against them, struggling forward with all her might. She burst free of them, running forward and wrapping her arms around Arthur's muzzle.

_Oh. Gods._

The dam burst. Arthur wept into the tiny arms clinging to his face, undone by this child. The last living Pepper child who had, and continued to, forgive him for everything he'd done or been forced to do.

And this one would live in some kind of cage for the rest of her short, miserable life.

_Not some kind of cage. "My Cage."_

And his mind ripped him back through centuries, to a time when he knelt at the feet of another and tore allegiance away from his creator.

…..

_"How long will it take?" Her foot is long and narrow, the toes tapered in length toward the middle. Perfect in symmetry, though remnants of earth cling to the heel and pad of each foot. I smell clay. Loam. Mineral rich muds. She has roamed far and wide in recent times._

_"Of all gods, you must know that growing such things will take time. And for a harvest such as you seek? Many hundreds of years." I keep my voice soft. Contrite. "And that, of course, is with the proper ingredients provided me. Otherwise, it may take millennia."_

_The toes dig themselves absently into the dry dustbowl we meet in. Green shoots spring up between her toes. "Then you must take yourself to the human realm. You will find enough children to supply your needs there. Find your haven. I will find you a herd and send them through by month's end."_

_She says nothing of the Hoshi no Tama, and it is understood. I am also to bear the finding of these. For a moment, the scent and face of each pack member passes through me like a knife._

_I harden my soul against it. I was never allowed to choose who I served. I will choose, and I will be free. Not only free, but growing in power with every curse planted._

_"Before you begin with the great planting," she interrupts my thoughts, "I will need one quite a bit sooner. I have what you need here."_

_I look up to see at her side a trembling boy, gaunt and bruised, eyes dull with resignation. Clutched in his hands is a single shining horn._

_And, I understood, my own soul for the incubation._

" _Will I survive?" I ask._

" _I cannot say. But if you do, none shall be able to command you again."_

_I look again to the starveling child, and I know my choice._

" _What curse do you desire of me?"_

" _Let it grow thus: For failure, see your feathers stripped. Let all your children's fates be tipped. The early death of eldest son. The firstborn's mind to come undone. The second one to kill and rage. The third to live within my cage."_

_I shiver at the exacting artfulness of the curse. Even before it is conceived, it is a terrible thing of beauty. Except…_

_"You hesitate. Do you doubt me?"_

_"No, never," I assure her. "But I wish to understand the fullness of this curse, as it is to be incubated in my own soul. Tell me, what of the last line? It seems… lesser. The curse appears to build in punishment as it travels down the family, and yet confinement is so simplistic. You could take the last child yourself. Why should you need a curse for such a thing?"_

_Her laugh is softer than I expect, like a warm summer breeze. "To ensure its finality. That there is no escaping it, no hiding, no bargaining. And to ensure the survival of that child until such a time. Teles knows my Cage. Any loving mother would snap their child's neck first." The smile that crosses her face is absolutely radiant, vibrant with ecstasy. "Let her child know a taste of the hell my own daughter must face. And let Teles never escape that knowledge."_

…..

There was no breath left in Arthur to wail and Dulcie's arms were already soaked. She clung tight, as if she could somehow hold him together. He never stood a chance at defeating the curses. It was as useless as fighting a siren's call. Once planted, a curse would unfold come hell or high water.

All the knowledge he needed, and he could not save her still. Perhaps living in ignorance until the last moment was preferable. Maybe he had just been making everything harder by seeking the answers. Maybe Teles understood it was hopeless and had shouldered the secret herself to let her children live in peace as long as they could.

Maybe he didn't blame her for her silence as much as he used to. He longed for the ignorance of three days ago. No price would be too high to rewind the clock, stop chasing after the Shiker, and just spend that time with Kay.

A car horn blared in the cavern. Too spent to jump, Arthur turned his eyes toward the lower tunnel opening. The Skulls' van idled there in the opening as Lance swung the driver's door open and climbed out. "Hey. Artie. Yer van's off, her insides don't sound right." A Deadbeat pulled up next to Lance, struggling with a hefty tool case. Lance reached inside and pulled out a car lug wrench, thwacking it across the opposite hand. "Gotta get off all'a tires and lift it, see what we got. Ya with me?" He hauled back an arm and sent the iron arcing through the air, end over end, toward Arthur.

Arthur automatically reached to catch it, and as he did, his foreleg began to shrink. The howl he thought he had no more air for exploded from him as his body erupted in fresh agony at a second transformation. Dulcie was ripped away from him.

Howls became screams, then whimpers. Some sort of heavy fur was draped over his body, and Mystery whispered at his ear, "Sleep. You're spent."

And it was so.


	25. One is the Loneliest Number

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Backuppixiedust for helping me brainstorm out of a major logistics hangup for this chapter. Thanks to "Meekro" for holding me tight these last few weeks. Thanks to admin of Rise and Fall of Nickelodian FB page for letting me rail about how I couldn't write and all those frustrations. Thanks to my followers for tracking with me through the current roller coaster, tagging me in fun/uplifting/writer things and dropping by my inbox. Not sure it's over yet, but trying to keep moving. You guys are the best.

Vivi stood back as Mystery and Lance dragged Arthur in, calling the door shut with the crook of a finger. Lewis snagged Dulcie by a pigtail in passing, gently dragging her away from Arthur who was barely covered by the remains of his clothing. Lance must have tried to get him semi-dressed. Vivi signaled Deadbeat to go for the travel bag Arthur had packed for their venture. He would be needing another set.

"First room up the stairs to the right," Vivi instructed. "There's a bedroom."

"On our way," Lance grunted. "If ye get the urge t'move us off, don't forget the van. Artie will be needin' it."

Numbly, Vivi nodded, dispatching a Deadbeat to bring the van aboard.

Dulcie's fingers wound tightly through hers. "Lewis."

"Yes?" he answered.

"They said Kay's dead."

Vivi screwed her eyes shut, trying to breathe through the sudden splitting in her chest. "We don't know that."

Dulcie said nothing.

"We don't know," he insisted. "Mystery is just guessing. We don't have any proof."

"Arthur said," Vivi murmured.

"We don't know!" Lewis roared, hunching forward. "Nobody saw anything yet! There's no body!"

Drops hit the ground below her face, and Vivi couldn't tell whose tears they were. Little arms wrapped around her waist, and Lewis held his sister fiercely.

"Dulcie," Vivi whispered, "I think when Mystery and Lance get Arthur up to his room, he's going to need someone to watch him. Can you do that for us? Let us know when he wakes up."

_Like hell she sits there alone with him, Vee. He had the Shiker in him. You know what the Shiker did to kids._

"You and Lance can watch him together," she amended. "I'm sure Lance could use the company since he won't be leaving Squire's side."

Dulcie's arms tightened. "Where you going?"

_Vee, please. Don't ask me to leave her. Not right now. She needs me._

Vivi set her jaw, trying to keep her voice steady. "Arthur's safe right now, so are you, Dulcie. Nobody can hurt you here. I've got a friend I've been trying to find for a long time, and I don't know she's safe yet, but I think she's here. We need to go looking for her. We'll be right back."

"Promise you'll be back. Kay didn't come back. Aji's gone. Promise me."

Vivi's hand scrabbled at the locket. Was it breaking further? "Promise," Lewis managed.

Unwinding herself, Dulcie slipped her hand into a Deadbeat's nub, following it toward the stairs. Lance and Mystery had already vanished with Arthur.

Vivi stood there for a moment. She was itching to round up the last thread to this chase, but her feet weighed like lead. She followed Lewis' thoughts as they cycled.

"Vee," he said, and her throat tightened at the grief in his voice. "Aji was attacking Arthur. That was his text."

"Yeah, Lew."

"Kay wouldn't let Arthur get hurt. She was trying to hard to keep him safe before. When I was…"

"Yeah."

"Arthur was chasing someone when we got here. He shouted someone was a murderer. He wasn't talking about me."

Vivi said nothing.

"Vee. Aji…"

She lifted her arms, clasping them around herself.

"All I've done since I came back was destroy my family more. I was so bent on hurting Arthur, I didn't bother stopping to help the people that took me in."

"Knock it off." Vivi pushed past him. "You didn't cast this curse. You're all wound up in it. Sure, you've been a grade A fish faced bonehead and you gotta sort all that out. But this family has had everything going against it before it ever started. I promise we're gonna find out why, but please. I need to find Chloe. I can't wait any longer, Lewis. She's out there, scared and hurting."

Her body tensed as Lewis considered leaving his fortress. "How do we know where the Shiker is? Is he in Arthur, or out there waiting?"

As the words left her lips, there was a grunt and a solid kick at the splintered door. The palms of her hands warmed as she crouched, peering through the twisted wood. Someone was our front. Someone holding an awful lot of green.

Concealing herself behind a suit of armor, she crooked a finger. The door swung open in response.

Duet staggered into the front hall, sinking to his knees on the ground. He held a large green-wrapped bundle close, bent double over it.

Abandoning the suit of armor, Vivi marched out of hiding, her shoes smacking the hardwood. Duet lifted his head just enough to spot her shoes before dropping his head back down. "Just my luck."

"Drop her now, you whipjacked nutcracker." Her words rang with Lewis' authority. "I'm not alone, and I'll bring this place down around your ears if you try and pull that Deadbeat act again."

"And possessed to boot if that voice is any indication," Duet muttered. "Who else is sharing headspace with you? I hope they got fair warning."

Vivi's hand whipped back, but froze, lowering itself slowly. "She's gone through an awful lot to find Chloe," Lewis crossed their arms to keep Vivi from hitting anyone. "And it would be best if you dropped-"

Chloe tumbled from Duet's hands as he launched up to his feet, grabbing Vivi by her sweater neck. "You survived." Duet stared into her eyes, but Vivi got the feeling he wasn't talking to her. "How did you survive?"

Silence stretched between them for a few minutes.

"I didn't," Lewis finally responded. "If you haven't noticed, I'm long dead. As I am dead, I remember everything about what happened, but you have no place in my memories. As far as I know, you were Vivi's employer." Lewis gripped Duet's hand, bones cracking under his grip as Duet cried out. "Until you attacked her. And-Oh yes. Kicked my sister in the face. Thank you for that addition, Vivi. Somehow you know me, and you are here where I last knew the Shiker to be." Vivi brought up some of the facts they had gathered as Lewis continued. "And you've been harvesting Kitsune souls. Dirty work for the Shiker, Duet? Were you tracking me? Were you the one that told him where to find me?"

Duet swung his free fist, but Vivi caught it, holding it solid. Heat stung her palms. _Easy now._

"Don't add to your crimes!" Duet panted. His hands trembled in Vivi's grip. Pain? Exhaustion? Fear? "I could have this region razed to the ground! Once the gods find out, nothing will grow here for a thousand years!"

"You'd better start making sense real fast, Duet," Vivi threatened.

"Solo," Duet spat. "My name is Solo."

"Yeah and I'm sure Chewie's backing you up, but that's not Princess Leia on the ground, that's Chloe. What did you do to her?"

"Hand…"

Vivi released Duet, who slumped back to the floor, his hands held out limp at the end of his wrists. The right one was already swelling. "He was harvesting her."

"The Shiker. Right. The fabulous butcher doctor you've been playing text-tag with. So why'd you bring her here?"

"Please. She's sick. Please get her to a bed. I'll tell you everything."

Vivi paused, but Lewis shook their head. "Nobody's going anywhere. You know what's happening. You know where the Shiker is. Until I know where the Shiker is, nobody moves."

"Dead," Duet rasped. "I killed him, and now there is no Duet. Only Solo." He reached out and pulled back Chloe's hood. Her eyes were screwed shut and her mouth gaped, bringing in short gasps of air. A golf-ball sized circle had been cut into her forehead, and Vivi's stomach clenched as Lewis turned away.

"Only Solo now, as there was only Duet after we changed her." Duet-Solo now-murmured. "Quintet. Duet. Solo."

Lewis stared at the splintered door, away from the gaping hole, away from the jagged bits of bone poking out from it. There was hardly any, but what pieces there were poked forward, as if meant to grow out and away from the forehead.

 _"Don't go, little boy!"_ Wailed through Lewis' memories.

 _"Little boy! No, not again!"_ The night at the graveyard flashed through Vivi's mind, the memories lining up next to each other.

"How?" Lewis whispered. "How is she the same Chloe?"

"At great cost to us. Please," Solo pleaded. "Do what you will with me, but give her rest. She has not begun to heal herself, and she should have by now. I don't know what is wrong."

Vivi tapped two fingers against one thigh, and two against the other. Two Deadbeats swooped in, gathering Chloe up gently and floating her upstairs. Two more caught Solo as he started after her.

"We will speak with you later. For now, there's a special room for you downstairs. Stay put." The floor opened up under Solo, and he plunged into darkness.

"Vee, do we have everyone?"

"Yes, Lew."

Her hands lifted high over her head. "Then we're leaving this Godforsaken place. And this time we're not coming back."


	26. My Name is Blurry Face

_Gone_.

This was beyond loss. Loss was when he saw Lewis hit the spikes on the cavern floor. Loss was when they told him there wasn't even arm left to save. This time, something was irreparably torn in his soul. He could feel her absence wrapped around his lungs, squeezing them flat. Was it because he'd been in sway to her, or because it was Kay?

_Does it really matter?_

His bones buzzed with the echoes of earlier pain, and he turned his full focus toward counting them for a few seconds of relief. One-hundred-seventy-six bones, not counting one robotic arm. The prosthetic implant had shifted. He could feel it had locked in deeper, anchored to more bone than before.

He didn't bother to question how he knew the number and position of every bone in his body, as he did not question how he knew his soul was torn.

 _Nogitsune_.

Concern and anger rolled off the damp dog scent to his left. Somewhere nearby hovered the worried, irritable smell of burned rubber and used oil. Saltwater, snot, and a sorrow to match his own pressed suffocatingly close on the right.

Dulcie's hand clenched his. How long had she been there?

How long had _he_ been there?

The wet dog smell shifted closer. Of course, the kitsune would know when he was awake.

"Arthur. I know it hasn't been long, gods know a day isn't enough to recover what you've been through, but we are in desperate need of answers."

His lip curled at all the fallacies in Mystery's sentence. Firstly, he wasn't _Arthur_. How could he be? He was simultaneously less and more than Arthur had ever been. He now carried an entire history nearly thirty times his own lifespan, and darker than any he would have ever chosen for himself. Also, should he give himself over to that history and become fully this creature, a day would be ample time for recovery. His bones buzzed, but the only thing keeping him immobile was the shred of humanity that grieved Kay. Lastly, nobody was truly desperate for answers. Not as desperate as he had been, or they would have had the blasted decency to _listen to him in the first place!_

Small hands on his remaining arm, kneading his forearm gently. The shred of humanity shuddered at the contact, both needing the comfort and horrified at the thoughts already rising from the dark corners of his mind. No, he was still desperate. Desperate enough to beg help. Whatever had happened to him had to be undone. And of all the gang, Mystery had never plowed past him. There just hadn't been time.

He reached under-covers? He was in a bed?-to his pants pocket. His eyes snapped open. These were different pants, a different shirt. He was not wearing his vest. Of course, he'd shredded his clothing and the curses were out there somewhere.

He bolted up, struggling with the covers. Mystery and Uncle Lance flanked him, pushing him back down.

"Easy, Artie. Don't start up a fuss now."

"Have to find it! Where's my clothes?" Arthur-the panicky part was definitely Arthur-nearly flung Uncle Lance off.

"Is that all? Calm yerself, Artie. I grabbed the scraps ta cover yer birthday suit on the way in." Lance walked to the corner, reaching for a heap of cloth in the corner.

 _"Don't touch it!"_ His voice was something out of a horror film, and it felt like snakes wriggling around in his throat. He clamped his hands over his mouth, eyes wide.

Lance straightened slowly, eyeing Arthur. "Alright, fine. Not gonna."

A hand rested on his shoulder, and Mystery's voice was at his ear, questioning, "Arthur?"

Arthur shut his eyes. "Go," he spoke through his fingers, his voice sounding more like his own this time. "Someone should get to bury their dead. They're in the pocket."

Mystery crossed the room, passing Uncle Lance and reaching into the remains of Arthur's clothing. He withdrew two pendants, sucking in a short breath as he did.

"Don't hold them too long," Arthur said, hunching forward. "They're incubating curses."

"Curses?" Mystery turned to him, stricken. "How do you-"

"How do you think I know?" Arthur snarled.

Tense, Mystery took one step toward him. "Is he still… with you?"

Something cracked, and Arthur collapsed back on the pillows, laughing helplessly. He clutched his arms and roared until tears streamed down his face. The smell of peppers and regret wafted past his nose, but he didn't care. Let Lewis and Vivi know exactly what their impulsiveness had done to him. He hoped it hurt, though he doubted it.

"Is he with me? He _is_ me!" Arthur gasped through the laughter. "I am the Shiker, and the Shiker is me. Duet killed him inside of me, and now I am the Shiker."

Fire crackled to his right, and his body relaxed. _Yes. That is the way. Burn it away._

"Hold that fire!" Mystery barked. He paused, licking his lips, then moving them. Further words failed to meet his efforts.

"You know," Arthur extended a hand, pointing an accusing finger at Mystery. "You know how. Say it. You told me from the start you could do exactly what the Shiker did. You could possess me too. Say how."

Mystery averted his eyes. "You know how. I can enter your mind and assume control if I wish, as long as there is a link present-"

"How else?" Arthur's fingers knotted in the quilt. Vivi had pulled Dulcie back. A brief pang in his chest reminded him that he was probably frightening Dulcie, but the splitting pain was outscreaming any other thought. "Say it."

Mystery faltered, setting a hand against the wall for support, still cradling the two pendants in his other hand. "I… the same way I change shape… my body rearranges down the the molecular level… I could infiltrate your body with every part of my own. Becoming you until I choose to leave."

"What am I, Mystery?" Cords strained in Arthur's neck as he grinned down at the quilt covering him. "What is the Shiker?"

Silence.

"Must I do everything?" Arthur burst out. "Fine! If I must do every damn thing for you! A Nogitsune! I forged my own path away from the rest of you and fell from Kitsune to Nogitsune. And I may as well say, Mystery, you're a long-familiar face! Pack-mates much? Who do you think I hunted down first? My pack! All of them! They're all gone!" He paused just long enough to correct himself. "He hunted them. He used his own soul to incubate the first curse that laid waste to a certain siren's life, then stole everyone else's Hoshi no Tama. Are you happy?"

Vivi's hands crawled with pink flame. The tips of her hair had turned a rosy pink and floated around her head, her eyes smoldering. From the center of her torso, Arthur could see thorny vines spreading out to clutch her around the ribs. Lewis was fully present alright.

"What do you want?" Arthur seethed. "Here to ask me what you want to know? Here to finally see what the missing pieces were? Why the hell do you want to know now? It's too late! It's all too late, all of it! We had a shot to fix this. We could have _done something_ but no, please, by all means. Roast me alive and ditch me by the side of the road. But hey, what the hell, I've had a horrendous couple'a days, how about I clue you in 'cause I'm such a nice guy." His eyes narrowed. "Or, maybe I just want to drive the spike in a little further."

Vivi's body spasmed forward, then recollected itself back in place.

"You're an ingredient, Lew. That's all you ever were, one piece of the pie needed for a curse. A child's imagination, so the curse can adapt itself wherever needed. But you can't just take imagination, you have to break the host to remove something that vital to the human soul. Imagination, memories, the life experience of a child." Arthur eyed them balefully. "You have to break them far enough so they can't tell if the actions they take for survival are just that, or if that's who they really are. So, tell me, Lew." He leaned forward. "Which are you?"

The flames went out, smoke curling up from Vivi's sleeves and hair. Her eyes cleared to a cold blue. "Don't ask that, you know what that means to him!"

"Oh, and now she speaks. So dead set on rescuing Chloe you won't take two minutes to get more information. How about this, 'Hey, Vivi, guess what? I got a few more fragments and unicorn horn is one of the ingredients in the curses used on the Pepper family.' Think that would have rung any bells?"

Vivi took a step back.

"He couldn't!" Mystery was rigid, his fingers clamped like death around the pendants. "They're sacred! And even if… even if... they're too protected!"

"Yeah, well, I had a high ranking customer who hand delivered me a herd." Arthur blinked, touching his fingers to his lips. That was the second time he'd slipped, but it made sense. The Shiker's thoughts and memories were his now. He may as well have done it, even if he wasn't present, right? That's how it worked.

"Arthur."

His shoulder rose up to his ears. That voice had no right to call him Arthur. He looked at Vivi, her eyes pink and unable to meet his now.

"How did… what… what happened to my sister, Arthur?"

"Oh, now she's your sister." His teeth scraped the insides of his mouth again, but he didn't care. "Now she's your family. She matters now that it's too late. Now you want to know?"

"Please." The next plea came from Dulcie, stopping him cold. "Please. What happened to Kay?"

Arthur turned his face away, drawing his knees up to his chest. "Go away, Dulcie. I'm not safe."

"Arthur, what happened to Kay?"

Arthur hid his face in his knees, a tremble working its way up his arms. "You shouldn't have to know."

"Mommy tried to poison me yesterday, Arthur. I'm not a baby."

Arthur's guts twisted at the factual sorrow in her voice. What eight year old had to say that?

"She's dead," he whispered. "She got between Aji and me, and she's dead."

The sorrow and regret swelled so large in the room, Arthur thought he would suffocate in the smell.

"I can't save you, Dulcie." He kept his face in his knees. "I tried."

"Enough!" Lance stood at the end of the bed, fixing Arthur with a scowl. "Everyone out. Ya'll have other business ta take care of with each other, so take care of it."

The edge returned. Arthur's lip lifted in a smirk as he assessed Uncle Lance. "And what, you'll give me a pat on the head and tell me it'll work out?"

His smirk faltered under his Uncle's withering glare. "Nah. I'm gonna tell you to get yer arse outta bed. There's a van downstairs that needs fixin'. So get."


	27. I Know My Call Desipte My Faults

Vivi's feet barely touched the ground as she glided down the stairs next to Mystery. He stumbled once and she caught him by the arm, guiding him down the stairs with care. She kept one ear attuned to the soft footsteps behind her, ensuring Dulcie followed. Lewis had insisted his sister come with them, even less sure of Arthur's state than before. Vivi had swallowed some of his choicer words in the name of tact and gotten Dulcie to follow with the promise of meeting a unicorn princess.

"I know you're worried about Squire," she'd murmured to Dulcie, shutting the door to give Arthur his privacy, "but he needs space to think right now."

Mystery's breath came in short gasps like she'd never heard out of him. If she didn't know better, she would say he was crying. But this was Mystery. Her no-nonsense never-faltering comforter. He didn't cry.

Of course, she'd thought he was nothing but an intelligent service dog for years.

Her service dog, who had just found out his whole family had been murdered by someone who was his family.

His last step off the stairs tilted him to the side. Vivi seized his arm, struggling to keep him upright, but he let himself sag to the floor. He had the collar bands wound between his fingers as he held them at arm's length, staring.

"Mystery?" Vivi hedged.

He didn't respond.

She didn't know what to do. Last she knew, he was headed straight out of her life thanks to her repeated stupidity. Probably the last thing he wanted from her were comforting words, not that she knew what to say. _What do you say to a centuries old creature holding the remains of its family?_

 _You don't_ , she realized. _You don't say a word._ Scooting around behind him, Vivi wrapped her arms around his middle and rested her head on his shoulder.

His form dissolved in her arms, squirming around and driving an all-too-familiar snout into her shoulder. A high pitched keening wrung itself from from his lungs over and over, and Vivi closed her arms about the dog fiercely.

Her fingers worked through his fur and just under his ears until his cries faded and his breathing came regularly, with only tiny hitches.

"They have to be destroyed." Mystery shuddered. "They are corrupted, harboring terrible things. Gods, Vivi, I attacked Chloe for wearing this like it was her fault. The Shiker must have put it on her so she couldn't run. Maybe even Duet. And-" He barked a short, cold laugh. "And of course. Any kitsune they came across wouldn't remove it for them. Seeing something like that… no wonder Duet didn't like dogs."

"I don't follow." Vivi pushed her glasses up, trying to keep up with what he was saying.

"They've probably been attacked before. Maybe they even found a kitsune to go to for help. But no kitsune would help them seeing Hoshi no Tama around their necks. They would attack first, ask later."

"Duet always did freak out when you were nearby, even dog-sized you."

Mystery kept his face tucked down. "I attacked her. And a packmate _harvested_ her. Unicorns are sacred across all realms, Vivi. The debt I owe on behalf of myself and my pack can't be fulfilled in ten lifetimes. We have to find her."

"We did." Vivi rubbed behind his ears. "We found her. Duet crashed our porch shortly after you took Squire upstairs. Chloe is resting and Duet is downstairs in a secure room."

Mystery finally lifted his face, eyes fixing on Vivi's. "What do you mean resting? How is she?"

"We've been in and out while Squire was unconscious," Vivi murmured. "She's burning up still. I don't know if it's the same fever she had last time we saw her or not. She's not breathing right. We've sent Deadbeats for medicine, but it doesn't do her much good. No, shock, right?" Vivi cracked a desperate grin. "Silly human trying to treat a unicorn girl with modern medicine. Gee, I wonder why it doesn't work."

He put a paw on her shoulder. "You're trying. You've been trying the hardest of all of us to get her back. Let me see what I can do now."

"But you're not a healer, unless you've been holding out on me." Vivi stood as Mystery climbed off her lap and stood over the collars.

"No, I'm not. But maybe I can ease the fever some and find out why she isn't healing herself. If I'm not mistaken, that is the meaning of the glow you saw on your sleepover."

Vivi's lips flattened. "Yeah, 'Make sure to keep a nightlight on for her, Vivi. It's really important there's a nightlight, in fact just keep the lights on.' Duet was pretty insistent on that. C'mon, she's down this way." Vivi gestured to Mystery, who clamped the collars between his teeth and followed.

It wasn't far to the room the Deadbeats had laid Chloe in. Vivi had brought medicine and cold cloths throughout the day. She'd even tried lining Chloe's bed with ice, but nothing brought the fever down and there hadn't been a single glow from her friend in all that time.

Mystery paused in front of the door. "Let me in there for a bit, Vivi. Can you wait out here?"

Vivi blinked. "But, why?"

"Because you're attached to someone who is needed out here right now," Mystery responded, before rearing up and working the knob. He slipped in through the barely open door and shut it behind him.

And then heat swelled from a pinprick under her collarbone to fill her whole body and she dropped to her knees like she'd been gut-checked, half expecting the hall to shake with the bulk of Lewis' weight dropping too.

"I don't know anything anymore, Vivi," he choked through her lips. "Ingredients? That's what I was intended for? And in all this, I turned on my sister and the man who tried to help me most. What am I? Who am I?"

Vivi flattened her hands against the ground to stabilize herself. "You're Lewis Pepper. You died in a terrible way, and you're back with me. And I'm never letting you go again."

"How can I be Lewis Pepper?" The words came like sledgehammers. "Kay was right. Lewis Pepper would never do what I did. I don't know who I am, Vivi." Tears sizzled down her face. "I'm lost."

"Lewis?"

Vivi's head whipped up. She'd forgotten Dulcie was following her.

Deep creases hung at the corners of her mouth, and her eyes were squinched as if she were trying to keep them open and shut at the same time. "Lewis. I'm sorry. I know you're upset. And. Don't know what to think. And." Pauses and deep breaths punctuated her sentences. "Want. Someone to tell. You. It's okay. But. I'm scared."

Lewis gave a low groan and reached out. Vivi's arms enfolded Dulcie.

"I don't. Want. To die. Or get taken. Away. And. I don't have. Anything. To stop it. And Kay's dead. And Aji's gone. And Mom's scary. And. And. I don't even know. What's happening. To Dad. And you died. And everyone's working. So hard. So that I don't. Die. But even Arthur thinks. It won't work. And I'm s-s-soho scaaaaared." She buried her face in Vivi's shoulder, sobbing.

And Lewis wept with her.

Strange, Vivi couldn't help thinking. She wasn't cut out to be any kind of comforter. But there wasn't anyone else right now. Funny how it worked.

"Hey," Vivi said softly. "Lewis, you're not so lost as you thought. This was you, big guy. You're hugging your sister right now. That's something my Lew would do. You made some screwed up choices, but you're still Lewis Pepper."

The locket beat painfully in her pocket. But he was listening, she could tell. She ran her fingers through Dulcie's hair. "And you. I'm not ready to quit. And I don't think Squire is either. He's scared too, but he doesn't give up. He hasn't stopped trying to figure this thing out once since this all started. It's not over until it's over, and we are going to keep at this thing, you hear me?"

As the words left her lips, a fearful screech echoed down the hall. She glanced up to see Squire rounding the corner, one hand latched onto the shaking Deadbeat that led him there. His eyes were flinty green, but there was something of the old Squire in his expression that lifted her spirits. A touch of hope.

…..

By the time Arthur had straightened his clothes and left the master bedroom with Uncle Lance, he had his anger firmly tucked in the corner of his mind, right next to grief and fear. By the time he hit the bottom of the stairs numbness had begun to settle in, and that was just fine. Survival was all that mattered right now, and since he couldn't do anything more for the Peppers, he might as well turn to the matter of figuring himself out.

His thoughts were interrupted by the weight of the case Lance shoved into his arms. His tool kit. He raised an eyebrow, glancing at Uncle Lance, who shrugged.

"Little pink guys are eager ta help. At least, I think so. Dunno how that works. Been bringin' me what I ask fer."

The corners of Arthur's mouth pulled down. "Eager to help" weren't the words he would use to describe mere husks of ghosts attracted to power. Lewis had probably assigned one or two to help Lance so he wouldn't have to split his attention away from Vivi.

"Generous, Lew," he spat, flipping open the case and checking his tools. A small flicker of warmth lit just under his collarbone as he ran his fingers over their battered surfaces. He fixed his eyes on the scratched, dull metals, ignoring the bright green vines coiled around his hands. Kay used to ask why he didn't get a new set. This was his first set, though. And as long as the tools weren't broken-heck even if they broke he could fix them, and he'd probably keep on. They were special. She sort of got it, but still teased him about getting a new set-

He flipped the case shut, glancing up. Lance had squatted down in front of a garage door set in the wall. Arthur blinked. Had that been there a minute ago?

No. Lewis' mansion was, apparently, malleable as he willed it. His fingers clenched around the handle of his tool case, recalling Vivi's mumbles about going to check on something as she'd excused herself and dragged Dulcie and Mystery with her. Even when Lewis wasn't with Arthur, he was present. Arthur's shoulders lifted, his lip twisting. He wondered how many Deadbeats were watching him now, reporting his every move, as if _he_ was the one that had proven dangerous all along.

But then, everything had changed.

Lance grasped the handle at the bottom of the garage door and rolled it up. There she sat, the Mystery Skulls van. Instinct took over and Arthur circled around the side, giving an initial visual sweep before bending down to check the tires, see if anything was leaking, then stopped at the hood to flip it up.

"Alignment's probably shot, she was wrenching it all over the road," he said shortly. "Couple extra dents, minor collisions. Leak underneath, might have ruptured something."

"Mhmm. Sounds about right." Lance pulled out a creeper and lay back on it, rolling under the van. "I'll get a closer look down here, you take the front."

Nodding absently, Arthur settled into a rhythm. Running his hands along the belts and inspecting the coolant level, he ticked off the checklist of basic maintenance in his head while searching for any serious damage.

"Quite a show you put on," Lance's voice came muffled from under the car. "Not that I get a damn thing that's happenin', but looks like you landed yerself a heap'a steamin' crap."

The dipstick only shone at a third of the length it should have. The oil was low. Combined with the darkish puddle he'd spotted under the van, there was an oil leak at the very least. The car was cold, no danger of burning himself. He reached in.

"Care ta let me in on a few things?" Lance persisted.

"Pepper women are all sirens," Arthur said flatly. "Straight out of mythology sirens. Mrs. Pepper is cursed, all her children are cursed, and I've been trying to stop it. With no help from anyone who could have told me what I needed to know, of course. And now I've been possessed by the demon that took me the first time. But since he was killed inside me, I inherited his abilities and history."

"Mhmm. Lines up with what bits I been hearin'. And Lewis?"

"Possessing Vivi. I couldn't care less."

"Right. Sounds like you don't care."

There was the leak. The tear in the tubing caught on his fingers. "I don't."

"Good ta hear you talk again, though."

Unsettled, Arthur glanced to the side. He could make out Lance's kneecaps and shins down to the ripped up sneakers he favored when working the shop.

"Yeah. You wouldn't be if you understood why."

"So maybe I don't hafta get it all. Mebbe it's just good somethin' small's gone right."

Arthur's mouth worked as he stuck his head back under the hood. "Touché."

"So, Kay's gone."

Arthur nearly crushed the tubing in his hand.

"Sorry, Artie. She was a real sweetheart. Saw yer face when you're around her."

He tromped down the grief. He couldn't let any of the really big feelings blow. Not until he figured out how to handle the darker aspects of what he'd become. Not with Dulcie and Uncle Lance nearby.

"What're you gonna do, Artie?"

"Nothing." His voice was flat. Resigned. "There's nothing to be done. There never was, but I didn't have enough information to understand that." His mind ran through the aspects of the curse. "The kind of curse they're under is designed to customize itself to its host and surroundings to ensure maximum damage. Its ingredients are highly illegal to harvest in the," he paused, sifting through information, "I don't have a word for it, but it's another reality. A reality where the gods and goddesses of old seem to have collected themselves." His brows drew together. "Why would they do that? If they actually exist, and they had a marked history of interference with us, why withdraw all of a sudden?"

"Gods an' goddesses. Bit above the Skulls pay grade," Lance remarked, clanking around under the car.

"Yeah." Arthur rolled his shoulders, returning to his monologue on the futility of trying. "Look, Uncle Lance. There's things that are inevitable, no matter how hard you fight them. I've tried. But fighting a curse is about as useless as fighting a siren's call. And I know a thing or two about that now that I've been under-" the tool fell from his fingers, clattering into the air filter.

"Okay up there?" Lance slid out from under the car, glancing up.

Arthur couldn't move. He could hardly breathe. It was right there, all the time, and he hadn't seen it. He'd been fighting on the wrong front this whole time. But it wasn't too late. Dulcie hadn't fallen yet.

"Artie?"

Having to obey Kay's order to go hadn't prevented him from coming back. Having to obey Teles' instructions to not speak of her past hadn't kept Mr. Pepper from writing it down. Arthur turned, pelting out of the garage and running face-first into a Deadbeat. It scooted back, squawking as Arthur snatched at its tail.

"Take me to Lewis!" He ordered, a growl underscoring his words.

Panicked, the Deadbeat took off. Arthur kept a tight hold as it led him to the other side of the foyer and down the opposite hall. Vivi knelt in the center of the hall, arms wrapped around Dulcie, a subtle pink glow at the tips of her hair.

"Dulcie," Arthur gasped, plunging in. "Lewis, listen to me!"

Vivi turned, her eyes flashing pink and her body tense. For the first time, he noticed the deep cuts across her face; four parallel lines.

He hesitated at grabbing her arms-still bandaged from burns-and settled on grabbing her wrists. "Lewis. Vivi. We've been doing it all wrong. You can't stop a curse from happening, it's not possible." He stared hard into Vivi's eyes, begging Lewis to understand. "Just like it's not possible to disobey a siren."

Vivi's eyes widened, her mouth falling open.

"It isn't about preventing the curse." He dropped Vivi's wrists and bent down, placing his hands on Dulcie's shoulders. "It's all about how you handle things after the curse is fulfilled. Dulcie," he paused, slipping a little rainbow hairclip out of his hair and placing it back in hers. "You're going to need this more than me. You're going to have to be very, very brave. But if you can do that, I think we can save you."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This marks the end of The Weight of Living. Keep your eyes peeled for the next fic, Torn Apart. This is probably a good time to make a disclaimer here: at the time of THIS WRITING we have just been informed that the SECOND VIDEO "Freaking Out" is almost done and probably will be released within a week. Obviously I have already wrecked tons of canon, but I do try to keep things in canon as much as possible based on information I already have. However, as I have already built up a crapton of stuff BEFORE I had any information, well… you know how it goes. Just gotta keep going with what I have. So, if anyone is reading this in the future and goes, "But it wasn't like that…" Yeah, well, before there was canon information there was AU's everywhere. Like this.


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